It all began with Vooch, who may be the most important player in this Bulls renaissance that has the team in position to retake sole possession of first place in the Eastern Conference with a win Tuesday against the Orlando Magic.
Talk about your revenge games!
No, that's Grayson Allen; a little hasty.
There's no anger for Nikola Vucevic when he faces his former team. Heck, it's all he can do to keep from weeping when he reflects on his Orlando years. Though the Bulls have a small debt of their own to repay from the disappointing loss in Orlando just more than a week ago.
The Magic ought to be familiar with the Vucevic the Bulls are seeing lately, averaging 21.3 points and 13 rebounds with 44 percent three-point shooting the last four games, and 19.4 points and 11.8 rebounds the last ten games.
Though it hasn't come easily.
"It was just for me making that adjustment," Vucevic was saying after the Bulls defeated Portland Sunday. "It's not always easy going from when I was in Orlando everything was running through me. I knew exactly how I was going to get my shots, where I was going to get my shots. Regardless of what was going on, I was going to get X amount of shots, X amount of possessions. So it was just figuring out a different role, playing with different players, playing a different style."
Which was why there was some hand wringing much of this season, at least among fans and in media, about Vucevic. Where'd that two-time All-Star go? Though Vucevic's statistics have improved, he's still averaging for the season a four-year low of 16.8 points and career low shooting below 45 percent.
Nikola Vucevic shoots an open jumper against the Magic in a game this past January.
But he's kept up the rest of his game, sixth in the league in rebounds and double-doubles and fourth in assists among centers. He's not quite Nikola Jokic yet, but he's trending.
"I knew it was going to take some time and obviously sometimes you want to have it happen quicker than maybe it is realistic and you get a little frustrated," the 31-year-old Vucevic admitted. "But at no point did I start doubting myself or think I wasn't the same player. It was just me making the adjustments and also mentally, and learning to play with Zach (LaVine), DeMar (DeRozan), with Lonzo (Ball), Alex (Caruso) and so on. Figuring that part out and the new system, me being in different spots. How can I be effective? How can I still get a good mix of inside and outside? Figuring all those parts out. And I think as the season has gone on I've been doing a good job of finding my spots and lately I've been able to get also more touches closer to the basket; post ups or on rolls. Just trying to find my spots and find my way in our offense. As the season has been going on it has been going better and better."
Nikola Vucevic dunks on Knicks forward Julius Randle.
Which is encouraging for the Bulls with the long term injury absences of Ball and Caruso.
But what often gets overlooked, perhaps, is Vucevic's seminal significance to the Bulls' recovery as an Eastern Conference contender.
By the way, the Bulls coaching staff will join DeRozan and likely LaVine (certain to be selected Thursday as an All-Star reserve) at the All-Star game if the Bulls have the best conference record Sunday. The 76ers Doc Rivers is ineligible since he coached last year's game.
Meanwhile, the star of this Bulls season has been the All-Star starter play of DeRozan has drawn the most attention. With LaVine a close second as they remain the league's top scoring duo. And then there's been the game changing defense of Caruso and Ball that has enabled the Bulls to become the team version of the two-way player.
But none of it might have occurred without Vucevic.
Because the acquisition of Vucevic at the last trade deadline (the next one is next week, Feb. 10) probably was the most significant of all.
For one thing, it tipped the hand of chief basketball executive Arturas Karnisovas that the rebuilding phase was over with the departure of a pair of No. 1 draft picks.
However, the trade was generally not viewed that favorably after the Bulls were 12-17 the rest of the regular season and missed the play-in tournament. Though LaVine's long absences with Covid and continued tryouts among some holdovers limited the team's ability to play consistently.
But it's what Vucevic meant to the Bulls' future.
With LaVine finally being named an All-Star, the Bulls thus added a second All-Star player and center who could complement LaVine. Despite the losing record following the trade, it finally made Chicago a destination again.
Free agent players, you were hearing, could now look at LaVine and Vucevic and with a tweak here or there envision a high level team. It's questionable whether DeRozan would have been so enthusiastic about the Bulls without the two All-Stars. New York had some interest as did the Lakers, his hometown team. But the Bulls were now providing cover that would not exist with a lot of teams with a pair of All-Stars. Plus, Vucevic was a college teammate and longtime friend of DeRozan's. So the orientation and adjustment wasn't going be that complicated.
Similarly for Ball. Despite several suitors, he made it clear Chicago was his favored destination. And then came Caruso, who obviously identified possibilities where he again could be with a high level team after winning a title with the Lakers and not receiving an offer to return.
Perhaps it would have been possible without the trade for the seven-foot Vucevic, but it's difficult to envision.
The Bulls would have been caught in a summer of trying to offload young players like Wendell Carter Jr., who went in the Vucevic trade, and perhaps being not so appealing a destination at the crucial time. But now players could look at Chicago and see a pair of high scoring All-Stars, a rebounding big man and an exciting scorer with shooting range. Just the place where a mid range specialist and full court defenders could see they were needed.
Which ironically then made it that much more difficult for Vucevic, who suddenly went from primary to tertiary option, who had to adjust to the upbeat chaos around him. His shooting suffered; he couldn't score as many points. Instead of being able to survey the floor and make scoring decisions, he had to go more quickly on the receiving end of passes. Fans murmured; media questioned. But he never complained, never pouted, never pointed fingers. He kept going.
And now he seems to be coming out the other side of it.
"Overall, I feel I've done a good job working through it and finding my way," Vucevic said. "For a big man, it's a little different because you don't always have the ball. Not handling the ball and playing pick and roll and doing all that where you can find your spot. You're kind of depending on others a lot. Just also them trying to figure out how to play with a big man like me. I can pop, I can roll, I can do different things. And sometimes guards are not used to having a big man who can do all those things. So it's just a process and it still is a process, and there are still so many ways we can better as a team; nothing happens overnight."
Except the turnaround of the Bulls franchise, that really began one night last March when the team acquired Nikola Vucevic.