ORLANDO - If not No. 1 on the list, Nikola Vucevic certainly has been one of the top three or four centers so far in 2020-21.
The Orlando Magic’s 7-footer is averaging 21.7 points on 52.6 percent overall shooting. Even more impressive is his 47.4 percent 3-point shooting, which is second best in the league among all players, not just centers, who have attempted at least 38 threes so far. Only Brooklyn’s Joe Harris has a better percentage from beyond the arc with at least this many attempts (51.2 percent).
Magic Head Coach Steve Clifford said coming into the year that he wanted Vucevic to take more threes, which helped him become a more potent scorer in the playoffs at Disney last season. In that first round matchup against Milwaukee, he shot 40.9 percent from downtown on 8.8 attempts and became the fourth Magic player ever to score 30-plus points three times in a postseason series, averaging 28.0 in the five games. Right now, he’s averaging 5.4 3-point attempts per game, most among centers.
Already in 2020-21, Vucevic has a 30-point performance, which was his regular season high last year, and he has scored over 20 in four of Orlando’s first seven games.
The 30-year-old currently leads the NBA in scoring when rolling in pick-and-roll action, totaling 37 so far and shooting 48.4 percent on these plays. He’s also tied for fifth in post-up scoring.
“Vooch is great. He’s a great ball player,” said Aaron Gordon, who has been Vucevic’s teammate since 2014. “Being able to go down to him in the low post. Really he can score from three levels. Going to him from three makes him a threat. Down on the block makes him a threat and then that mid-range makes him a threat.”
Just as extraordinary as his offensive production is his high basketball IQ on both ends of the floor. At the moment, Vucevic is averaging just one turnover and one foul per game, absolutely unheard of for a starting center and someone who has the ball in his hands as frequently as he does.
In 2019-20, Vucevic became the first center since turnovers became an official stat in 1977 to average at least 19 points and three assists while turning the ball over fewer than 1.5 times per game, per Stathead. He was only the third player ever at any position to accomplish this. The other two are Jimmy Butler, who averaged 20.0 points, 3.3 assists and 1.4 turnovers with the Bulls in 2014-15, and Tobias Harris, who in 2019-20 with the 76ers averaged 19.6 points, 3.2 assists and 1.4 turnovers.
Averaging 20-plus points and fewer than 1.5 fouls and turnovers in one season has never been achieved by a player before in the NBA. Amazingly, right now both Vucevic and Terrence Ross are the only two players in the league this season doing that.
Vucevic is one of the few active players that has truly gotten better every year since coming into the NBA in 2011. He’s added pieces to his repertoire every year, and has become more consistent in all facets of the game.
Even his defense, which has always been considered his weakness, has improved. Opponents this season so far are shooting 45.4 percent from the field when he has been the closest defender, the fourth best mark on the Magic. Those opponents have combined to shoot 50.8 percent this season, according to advanced NBA stats, meaning they are shooting around five percent worse when Orlando’s big man has been guarding.
Challenging shots on the perimeter has been a strength of his to this point as well. Opponents have shot just 20 percent on 20 collective attempts from 3-point range with Vucevic as the closest defender, according to that same database.
As far as the question at hand, it’s definitely within reason to suggest that Vucevic, now in his ninth season in Orlando, has been the association’s best center so far. The others in that conversation are Joel Embiid, Nikola Jokic and Bam Adebayo. Embiid, as expected, has been dominant in the paint and has led the Sixers to a 6-1 start. Jokic, like Vucevic, has been very efficient with his scoring and remarkably he’s leading the NBA in assists. Adebayo’s defense has been outstanding and he’s starting to become a more prolific scorer.
If Vucevic continues to play the way he has to this point of the season, there’s no doubt he will be named an All-Star for the second time in his career. And if the Magic can surprise the naysayers and have one of the better records in the East when all is said and done, then that will only strengthen the case that he indeed is the most complete center in the league.