Scott Skiles said Nikola Vucevic already has toughness in him with the way he rebounds. Building up defense is the big step Skiles hopes to teach him.
The Orlando Magic have a lot to learn as Scott Skiles takes over as head coach. He is going to demand a lot more from the Magic then Jacque Vaughn or James Borrego ever did. And with a full training camp, he is going to have the time to teach it too.
Skiles spent his entire career building a brand of toughness. If anyone could teach toughness, it seems like it would be Skiles.
In today’s NBA, the center position has become the defensive linchpin for many teams. They look for guys who can block shots and protect the rim.
That is not Nikola Vucevic.
Vucevic is tough in his own way, but he is not a rim protector and not a shot blocker. Vucevic gave up 53.7 percent shooting at the rim, a slight improvement over his 2014 numbers but not good by any means. He was good at getting position and defending one on one when given the chance, but on pick and rolls, Vucevic struggled a ton.
It has raised the question of whether Vucevic can be a solid defensive center in the league.
He does not have great lateral foot speed and little in the way of vertical leap. Even if he did not have the vertical leap, he is not a big body who could block shots with his length or keep players away from the basket with his size.
Vucevic is a player who has to rely on positioning to be a strong defender.
None of that will dispel any notions of “toughness” or a lack thereof with Vucevic. The wrap on him is Vucevic is more finesse than brute strength. Late in games, he would have a tendency to move away from the basket and go away from the post.
So can the Magic wring more toughness out of Vucevic?
Scott Skiles, in an interview with Josh Robbins of the Orlando Sentinel, believes so:
"When I go roster to roster, I just don’t see a lot of the big people who have that type of skill set. He doesn’t dribble 15 times before he makes a move. He’s got a nice economy with his dribble. It’s one, two dribbles — boom! — he shoots a jump hook or has a pump fake and move. Obviously, he steps out and shoots.That combination [is rare]. You’ve got the Gasol brothers, you’ve got Vooch and you start running out of names pretty quick. That list is small. So that’s an advantage for us and we need to use that.Having said that, he’s got to be more of a factor on the opposite end of the ball. He’s a good defensive rebounder, which is outstanding, and there’s something that goes back to my original comment about toughness. Usually guys that aren’t tough are not on the defensive boards because they don’t want people jumping all over their backs, they don’t want to bang [or] it’s not a point of emphasis. Well, it is [a point of emphasis] for him.So there’s some toughness there, no doubt about it. It’s just now we’ve got to transfer some of it onto the way he moves around defensively and his responsibilities in the group with his coverages and things like that. But there’s no reason he can’t do it."
No one doubts Vucevic has a unique set of skills. Few centers in the league can post up and step out on the perimeter like he can. His defense obviously needs improvement.
But Skiles’ assertion that Vucevic is tough simply by the way he rebounds deserves some examination. And we have the numbers to dig into this thanks to NBA’s player tracking statistics.
In 2015, Vucevic grabbed 4.3 contested rebounds per game and 39.3 percent of his contested rebound opportunities. According to NBA.com, a contested rebound is a rebound gathered with an opponent within 3.5 feet. This would be the guys “jumping all over their backs” Skiles is talking about.
Among centers who played at least 25 minutes per game, his contested rebound percentage is not very strong. The leader was Brook Lopez at 53.7 percent. Ranked around Vucevic is Marc Gasol (39.1 percent), Serge Ibaka (38.9 percent) and DeMarcus Cousins (40.5 percent).
Vucevic certainly had more opportunities though. His 4.3 contested rebounds per game were 11th in the league among centers who played at least 25 minutes per game.
His percentage ranks among some pretty good players, but he is not grabbing a good chunk of rebounds in traffic. But he has a lot of opportunities and grabs a lot of them per game.
Skiles is right, it is not easy to do that.
Now, Vucevic has to bring the defense at the rim to his strong ability on the boards. Vucevic will have to do most of the work to do that.
Whether that equates to toughness or not . . . that might be a little more subjective.