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2014-15 Season Review: Nikola Vucevic

Josh Cohen
Digital News Manager

By John DentonApril 27, 2015

ORLANDO – While the Orlando Magic were hoping to make some significant strides in the standings during the 2014-15 season, it’s the individual strides among the gaggle of young players on the roster that might ultimately prove to be more long lasting in the years ahead.

Without question, the Magic (25-57) showed flashes of greatness this past season – both as a team and among their individual players. Seeing the growth and potential of players such as Nikola Vucevic, Victor Oladipo, Tobias Harris, Elfrid Payton, Evan Fournier and Aaron Gordon gives the Magic tremendous hope that brighter days are ahead for a franchise out of the playoffs the past three seasons.

Without a doubt, developing more defensive toughness, becoming more consistent and learning how to close out tight games is still a work in progress for a Magic team that had the NBA’s fourth-youngest roster. Cultivating those things will be the job of a new head coach – be that an entirely new leader or interim coach James Borrego, who admirably guided the Magic over the final 30 games of the season after Jacque Vaughn was fired on Feb. 5. Orlando made some significant gains under Borrego – as evidenced by late-season victories against Chicago and Milwaukee – and he is expected to be considered for the full-time coaching gig going forward.

Orlando is also expected to add to its talent base in the June 25 NBA Draft. The Magic have secured the fifth-best odds at getting the top overall pick. The draft order will be determined in the May 19 NBA Draft Lottery, a process in which the Magic have an 8.8 percent chance of winning. They have a 9.7 percent shot at the No. 2 pick and a 10.7 percent chance at No. 3.

The Magic have won the NBA’s top overall pick three times in their 26-year history, ending up with franchise fixtures Shaquille O’Neal, Penny Hardaway and Dwight Howard.

Looking back on the 2014-15 season, we here at OrlandoMagic.com are going to spend the next three weeks breaking down each of the players currently on the Magic roster. We’ll look at their stats, highs and lows from the season, a favorite moment and analyze their role for the future.

So without further ado, here is today’s Magic player capsule:

NAME: Nikola Vucevic
JERSEY NUMBER: 9
HEIGHT, WEIGHT: 7-0, 260
POSITION: Center
NBA SEASONS: 4
AGE: 24

2013-14 SEASON STATS: 74 games, 19.3 ppg., 10.9 rpg., 2.0 apg., 0.73 spg., 0.73 bpg., 52.3 percent FG, 75.2 percent FT.

2013-14 SEASON HIGHS: 37 points (April 3 at Timberwolves); 23 rebounds (Oct. 28 at Pelicans); 7 assists (Dec. 26 vs. Cavaliers); 3 steals (three times – most recent March 11 at Bucks); 4 blocks (Oct. 28 at Pelicans); 41 minutes (three times – most recent Feb. 11 vs. Knicks).

BEST MOMENT: Sure, Vucevic throttled the injury-ravaged Minnesota Timberwolves for a career-best 37 points late in the season, but without question his best stretch of the season came from Jan. 10-14. Focused more on getting low-post position, Vucevic hammed the Portland Trail Blazers (34 points and 16 rebounds), Chicago Bulls (33 points and 11 rebounds) and Houston Rockets (25 points and 12 rebounds) – all playoff teams with stellar frontlines – in succession. And quite possibly the best play of his career – a thunderous left-handed dunk in the face of Chicago’s Pau Gasol – came during that stretch of stellar basketball.

COMMUNITY INVOLVEMENT: In addition to being the Magic’s best player on the court, Vucevic was also one of the franchise’s most active players in the Central Florida community. ``Vooch’’ participated in 16 individual events, six team functions and had interactions with fans at least 87 different times. Among Vucevic’s many events, he and teammate Evan Fournier answered questions from French-speaking students at UCF in October, he took kids from the Boys and Girls Club on a shopping spree in December, he visited the pediatric care unit at Florida Hospital in January and he signed autographs at various times late in the season.

FUTURE ROLE WITH THE MAGIC: Vucevic is undoubtedly a cornerstone piece in the Magic’s building plan and that point was rammed home last October when the franchise inked him to a four-year contract extension. He backed up the Magic’s belief in him with another stellar season, averaging career highs in points (up 5.1 ppg.), field goal percentage and assists. Vucevic played well enough to make his first NBA All-Star team early in the season, averaging 19.6 points and 11.3 rebounds while shooting 53.6 percent in his first 50 games played. However, his bid to make the All-Star Game was likely sabotaged by Orlando’s mid-season struggles. Seemingly frustrated and fatigued late in the season, Vucevic showed a bit of reluctance to operate out of the low post and too often settled for pick-and-pop jump shots rather than point-blank looks in the paint. As a result, his shooting percentage after the All-Star break (49.8 percent) dipped a bit. His versatility and shooting touch could come in handy in the future if the Magic are able to snag a shot-swatting center or power forward in the NBA Draft. Vucevic could very easily play power forward and has even discussed working to expand his shooting range to the 3-point line in the future. For now, though, the 7-footer is a fixture for the Magic and someone who will be leaned on heavily for years to come with his steady production as a scorer and rebounder.

Note: The contents of this page have not been reviewed or endorsed by the Orlando Magic. All opinions expressed by John Denton are solely his own and do not reflect the opinions of the Orlando Magic or their Basketball Operations staff, partners or sponsors.