There's a scene from a Shakespeare play I vaguely recall that goes something like this:
"Friends, Chicagoans, hoops fans, lend me your iPhones; I come to praise Vooch, not to bury him."
Perhaps I don't have that exactly accurate. But as the Bulls return to Milwaukee Wednesday for Game 2 of this opening round NBA playoff series, I've been somewhat mystified by the commentary in some places that the Bulls need an upgrade at center.
It seems to go something like this, that Vooch, a.k.a, Nikola Vucevic, is OK, but too many threes and more pressure is needed inside, and more production, and should we move on now or next season, and, hey, Wendell Carter Jr. doesn't look that bad.
My response has varied, though it goes something like this, "Are you nuts!"
I am here to praise Vooch. It hardly should be a lonely voice.
I accept Vucevic isn't Joel Embiid or even the best Nikola. But as Bulls centers go—and I'm only looking at maybe 55 years of team history—he's the best all-around scorer the Bulls have had at that position in franchise history, this season averaging 17.6 points and 11 rebounds as an often little sought out third offensive option. And maybe the third or fourth best ever at that position for a franchise that has spent most of its time in the NBA lamenting the lack of a horse in the middle.
As I recall the protagonist in King Richard the Third saying, "My kingdom for a Vooch."
Again, I may be technically off, but you see where I am heading.
The best player in the game Sunday was Vucevic, scoring 24 points with 17 rebounds, eight offensive, three assists and a steal. It was Vucevic who put the Bulls in position to steal the game with a dozen third quarter points in their crucial rally, eight straight that shockingly (certainly to the Bucks) flipped the lead to the Bulls for the first time in the game.
Vucevic finished with a 24-point, 17-rebound double-double against the Bucks.
Sure, that late missed putback was cruel.
"Just rimmed out," Vucevic lamented, his distress obvious on the court at the time. "Obviously, that moment of the game to cut it down to one...it doesn't mean we would have won. Still, at that moment you get it down to one we would have been able to get some stops. It's part of it in the playoffs. A lot of stuff happens and you just have to fight through it."
Vucevic did miss eight of 10 3-pointers overall and had a tough closing quarter with two points. Which was two more than Giannis Antetokounmpo, by the way in a '90s slugfest close where the Bulls fell just short.
But that the Bulls were there in the end was in large part because of the way Vucevic backed his way into the post against Brook Lopez and stretched the court with 3-pointers. The 6-foot-10 Vucevic made just two of 10 threes, but that's also the way you have to play against the Bucks, especially the lumbering Lopez.
"The way they play defense they collapse in the paint and take the paint away," Vucevic emphasized after the game. "They don't give up the three; that's the shot you're going to get and you have to make that shot to be able to beat them. When we played them in the bubble when I was in Orlando, I made five, six threes in the games we had chances, and the Game 1 we won was because I went off from behind the arc. You have to play off what the defense gives you and they are going to crowd the paint and don't give you anything easy at the basket. So it's up to us to make the right play, whether a kickout, a drive or three or whatever it is. You've just got to take the shot that is there and live with it."
The Bucks won that series 4-1, but it was Vucevic leading the Magic to the Game 1 win with 35 points and five of eight threes with 14 rebounds and four assists.
Those Magic didn't give Vucevic much help also starting Gary Clark (I don't remember him, either), James Ennis, Markelle Fultz and Evan Fournier. Vucevic was the most effective player in that series even as Antetokounmpo averaged 30 points and 16 rebounds. Because Vucevic not only averaged 28 and 11, but he shot a 50-40-90 overall in the five games.
And no one else, certainly not Giannis, came close to that. If only for a little help from my friends, as that other famous English bard, Joe Cocker, wrote.
Vucevic was great from behind the arc in Orlando's 2020 NBA Eastern Conference First Round series vs. Milwaukee.
DeMar DeRozan was on a Raptors team that beat the Bucks in the playoffs. Though that was for Milwaukee WTSS, With Tony Snell Starting.
It's difficult to judge any team that way. The Bucks also were starting Thon Maker then when they believed he was capable of being a Maker on an NBA roster.
It wasn't very often this season playing with DeRozan and Zach LaVine that Vucevic led the Bulls in field goal attempts as he did in Game 1 in Milwaukee with 27. But for the Bulls to have a chance at an upset, as I recall from my second grade reader, See Vooch shoot; shoot Vooch shoot.
"I wanted to come out and be aggressive and play off my teammates, and felt I got a lot of good looks and was comfortable taking them," the 31-year-old veteran said about his enhanced offensive orientation. "I don't think anyone on the team cares who takes the shot. We all need to take the shots and be aggressive and make the right plays for the team whether it's shoot, pass, drive, whatever it is, and live with it. We did a good job staying aggressive when the ball wasn't going in, and that's the way it is in the playoffs. You have to find a way and it's going to be a grind. "The ball wasn't going in, but we battled on the defensive end and that's the way it's going to be in the playoffs," Vucevic said. "You have to find a way. I think we saw what we need to do to play with them and have a chance to win. A couple of threes rimmed out. Make a couple of those maybe it's a different game. But you can't think about it. You just have to play off what the defense gives you and stay aggressive and make the right plays, and that's what I did. Next game I get good looks again, I'm going to take them again. They're a good defensive team, so you can't overthink. You've got to be aggressive in what you do."
Vucevic led the Bulls with 24 points in their narrow Game 1 loss.
It's especially good advice for this Bulls team, much dismissed in the national prediction game. But they also don't have much chance at all without a big man. They're not easy to find as Bulls history suggests.
The starting center for the franchise in 1966 was supposed to be Nate Bowman, an athletic 6-foot-10 first round pick who was injured in training camp and eventually turned over the job to second round rookie Erwin Mueller. When the Bulls were on the verge of the Finals in the early 70s, they kept getting knocked down by Kareem Abdul-Jabbar or Wilt Chamberlain. Tom Boerwinkle was a fine passing center at the time, but without enough offense or self. When the Bulls finally dealt for future Hall of Famer Nate Thurmond in 1974, he was past his prime and the guy they traded, Cliff Ray, helped deny them the Finals in 1975 against Golden State.
Bulls starting centers on opening day have included Caldwell Jones, Jawann Oldham, Granville Waiters, Andrew Lang, Dickey Simpkins, Michael Ruffin and Drew Gooden.
Artis Gilmore after he made a Hall of Fame career in the ABA probably was the best Bulls center ever, though he couldn't score from more than 18 inches from the basket. Joakim Noah probably was next, though also a danger to courtside fans with his jump shot. I'd place Vucevic next for his ability to score and rebound and all-around versatility. Pau Gasol was at that level, though toward the end of his career when he came to the Bulls.
Hall of Famer Artis Gilmore still has a claim as the best center in Bulls franchise history.
My top 10:
Artis Gilmore Joakim Noah Nikola Vucevic Pau Gasol
Then Bill Cartwright for the impact he made physically and defensively with the 1991-93 champions. Then Boerwinkle, and it drops off quickly after that with perhaps Dave Corzine, Luc Longley, Eddy Curry and then take your pick, Tyson Chandler, Ben Wallace, Brad Miller, Robin Lopez or Dalibor Bagaric?
Were Elton Brand and David Greenwood centers? Dennis Rodman? Maybe in this NBA. Daniel Gafford?
It's been an ordeal for the Bulls to find someone like Nikola Vucevic. Every decade or so they seem to come along.