Is this the new normal for Nikola Vucevic?
Before this season, Nikola Vucevic filled a stat sheet. The fact he is scoring and scoring efficiently is not a surprise. The fact Nikola Vucevic is gobbling up rebounds is not a surprise.
It feels like Vucevic has done a lot of what he is doing before. But in so many ways it is different.
There was no doubt that Vucevic was the Magic’s most valuable player of the first quarter of the season. With All-Star voting set to open, he is the one the coaches will likely reward as the team’s representative in Charlotte, provided Orlando keeps winning.
Through the first quarter of the season, Vucevic was averaging a career-best 20.8 points per game 20.8 points per game and 11.3 rebounds per game (just short of his career-high pace set in 2013 at 11.9).
He is shooting an incredible 54.9 percent from the floor. Incredible because he takes so many jumpers and 3-point shots. And he has been good there too, making 39.0 percent of his 3-pointers.
Add in 3.7 assists per game, the fourth-most of any center, and the Magic are using Vucevic in a way he has never been used before as a passer and screener. And he is providing stronger efficiency and scoring.
Vucevic is also improved defensively.
Orlando Magic
Although he is hardly elite, he is doing a better job corraling drivers on pick and rolls and using his verticality to challenge shots. The Magic are a better team with Vucevic on the floor by a long shot.
This combination feels too good to be true. And so the question for Vucevic is whether he can continue playing at this pace, racking up near triple-doubles and acting as a fulcrum on offense.
Vucevic’s strong play is the biggest surprise of the season. It is rare for an eighth-year player to completely change in this way. Mostly those players are set in their ways.
Credit to coach Steve Clifford for putting a lot of faith in Vucevic and unlocking this aspect to his game. Because Vucevic has played like this before.
From Dec. 3 to Dec. 22 last year, Vucevic averaged 22.1 points per game, 12.4 rebounds per game and 4.2 assists per game while shooting 51.1 percent from the floor. That included his first career triple-double.
Vucevic had to put up those monster numbers as injuries decimated the team. Orlando had to run everything through him. And he stepped up his play, carrying the team into several competitive games without much talent around him.
Of course, this was also where his season took a bad turn. He broke his hand and missed the next two months. He was never really the same and never regained that rhythm as the Magic’s focus had gone to other players.
Vucevic is healthy for now. But the question remains whether he can maintain this torrid pace throughout the rest of the season. Is this who Vucevic is now? Orlando certainly hopes so as his play has been vital to the team’s success.