Nikola Vucevic is looking forward to being utilized more

Vooch hopes to put his various skills to better use this season.

© Sam Navarro-USA TODAY Sports

The Chicago Bulls struggled to get buckets efficiently last season, finishing 24th in offensive rating. Obviously, it’s not all on Nikola Vucevic, but he will play a big role in improving their offensive efficiency. Armed with a brand-new contract, Vucevic expressed excitement about his ability to help the team in more ways than one.

“That was a big thing for me. It was finding ways to utilize me more,” Vucevic said. “Not so much only for me shooting the ball and scoring but using my playmaking ability to help the team in different ways.”

Offensive hub

Vooch is one of the league’s better-passing big men, averaging better than three assists per game since 2017. Though primarily known as a solid scorer and an elite rebounder, the veteran big man believes he can help facilitate the offense.

“I think we can see a lot more teams do it and do it at a high level. Obviously you have Denver with (Nikola) Jokic. You have Miami with Bam (Adebayo). Teams like that that use their big man a lot as a playmaker. And I think we also have a team that can function that way, obviously with me and all the guards that we have who can play off the ball. It could make life a lot easier for a lot of our guys,” Vooch shared.

Better picture of what’s to come

Vucevic mentioned that with the team's announcement of Lonzo Ball missing his second consecutive season, they now have a better understanding of what they need to do. The lack of clarity regarding Ball’s return last season kept the Bulls guessing, but now Vooch states that the team has a better picture of what’s to come.

“I think last year also we were thinking, ‘When Lonzo (Ball) comes back, it’ll be different.’ I think this year we have a clear picture, obviously, he’s not going to be back and we have to find other ways to run our offense without putting so much pressure on Zach and DeMar handling the ball and scoring, doing everything,” Vucevic said.

“So it’s a lot of conversations I had with Billy before I signed and after I signed about what they were thinking and how I could be utilized and where we could do a lot of stuff I like. I think there’s a lot of different options we could do where I could become a playmaker. That could help a lot,” he concluded.

Ready to check up 🔜 pic.twitter.com/aGAlpE5Z2e

— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) October 2, 2023