Draft Pick Scouting Report: #16 Nikola Vucevic
For the past two offseasons, we have been looking at players coming to the NBA after playing at least as season overseas. With the lockout, we are going to have plenty of time on our hands. With that being said, I plan on doing scouting reports for each of the 30 first round picks from this past draft.
Past Editions: Kyrie Irving (#1) | Derrick Williams (#2) | Tristan Thompson (#4) | Jonas Valanciunas (#5) | Jan Vesely (#6)| Bismack Biyombo (#7) | Brandon Knight (#8) | Kemba Walker (#9) | Jimmer Fredette (#10) | Klay Thompson (#11) | Alec Burks (#12) | Markieff Morris (#13) | Marcus Morris (#14) | #15 Kawhi Leonard
With the 16th overall selection in the draft, the Philadelphia Sixers selected Nikola Vucevic, a 6’10″ big from USC who is very talented offensively and underrated as a defender. As the lockout continues, Vucevic has been playing overseas, first with Montenegro in EuroBasket and now with KK Buducnost.
Strengths
Post Offense
Standing at 6’10″ Nikola Vucevic is a big body who had a height advantage over most of his defenders. Smartly, USC decided to use this size to their advantage by posting Vucevic over 42% of the time. When he makes the catch on the block, Vucevic is at his best when he is turning around his left shoulder. This means when he makes the catch on the left block, he’s turning to the middle and when he is making the catch on the right block, he is turning towards the baseline. In terms of PPP when turning around his left shoulder, Vucevic posted a PPP of 1.111 on the left block and a PPP 1.182 on the right block (both numbers in the top 15 percent of all college players). His go to move on the block when making his turn around his left shoulder is the hook shot, a shot he attempted 62% of the time. On those attempts he shot 64.6%, and it makes sense, considering he has a wingspan of 7’4.5″ that hook shot is pretty much unblockable:
On the left block, Vucevic does a great job of establishing position and then once he gets position in the paint, he is able to turn to the middle, extend for the hook, and use his great touch to get a shot over the defense. On the right block, Vucevic does a great job of faking towards the middle and then turning baseline for the hook. That quick little fake to the middle is able get the defense off of Vucevic’s back giving him space to get the hook shot up.
Isolation Defense
Vucevic is actually a much better defender than you’d expect an offensive minded big to be. Vucevic was isolated 22.3% of the time and he was able to hold opponents 28.3% shooting during those isolation situations. What’s interesting is that teams tried to take Vucevic off of the bounce, attempting to drive 84.1% of the time, but they were unable to take advantage:
What I like about Vucevic on the defensive end is that he is very smart about how he uses his length/size. He knows he has the length to bother shots, so he backs off of his man pretty far off, because he knows he can make up that distance with his long arms. That prevents him from getting blown by quicker defenders while still allowing him to contest jumpers.
Weaknesses
Turnovers
Despite being very talented offensively, Vucevic does has a tendency to turn the basketball over, doing so 10.1% of the time of all possessions. A surprising amount of turnovers come off of possessions described as “cuts” by Synergy, as he turns it over 10.2% of the time. Since cuts are a situation where you are usually making the catch and then quickly going up with it, that is way too many turnovers. Even more surprising is that Vucevic turns it over 14% of the time when making a “Basket Cut” or catching the ball in the area around the rim:
There are two problems I have with Vucevic. First, he doesn’t have the greatest hands. He can make the catch (most of the time) if the pass comes right too him, but if he has to reach for it, it will more often than not clang off of his hands. Once Vucevic does make the catch, he has a tendency to bring the basketball down. This is a huge problem for someone with Vucevic’s size because he is basically bringing the basketball down to everyone else and letting them get their hands on it, knocking it away. Vucevic needs to learn how to make the catch, keep the basketball high, and quickly going up with it. That will help prevent turnovers.
Pick And Pop Shooting
For his size, Vucevic is an above average shooter who has shown a great ability to stretch the defense. You would think that this would lend to Vucevic being a good pick and pop type of player, watching a teammate come off of his ball screen, spot up, and knock down the jumper. For whatever reason though, Vucevic really struggles when shooting in pick and pop situations, knocking down just 33.3% of his shots in those situations:
Vucevic’s biggest problem in pick and pop situations is that he has a really hard time getting his feet set. When Vucevic knocks down shots, it is usually when he has his feet set and he is able to step into the catch and get the shot off easily. In pick and pop situations, Vucevic is on the move and he doesn’t get to his spots quick enough, meaning he makes the catch while his feet are still moving. That means he doesn’t have good balance and his shots will be off because of that.
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The more I watch Nikola Vucevic play, the more I like the Sixers’ selection of him. He is a very smart player who knows how to use his size well, both offensively and defensively, and that allows him to have success that I think can translate to the next level. A couple things he really needs to do better is keep the basketball up when making the catch and get his feet set in pick and pop situations.
