NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Bulls center Nikola Vucevic won’t participate in the blame game.
He’s well aware of its existence, especially in how it pertains to him, but refuses to indulge in it.
His mindset is to leave that game for others.
“The anger, so to speak, or blame directed at me has really only been on social media,’’ Vucevic said Tuesday when discussing the underachieving Bulls of the last few seasons. “Like, never in the city, the arena, in person have I ever felt that. Actually the opposite. All the negativity I’ve seen has been on Twitter . . . well, X now. And, honestly, I can understand it because people expect what I was doing in Orlando. But I don’t have that same role, I’m not utilized the same way, don’t have the same amount of touches or the touches I was getting previously.
“Out of the three of us [Vucevic, DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine], I’m the one that has sacrificed the most from an individual [standpoint]. That’s why I feel like the people that have been critical of me really don’t understand how basketball works, what it takes for us to function as a group.
“It’s OK; not everyone is going to like you.’’
Vucevic’s focus is on unfinished business.
The Bulls and Vucevic agreed on a contract extension at the start of free agency in July. His return was the worst-kept secret of the offseason.
The Sun-Times reported that Vucevic and the Bulls were in discussions in May. Vucevic wanted to know coach Billy Donovan’s plans for him in the offense.
“Yeah, there was a lot of discussions about that,’’ Vucevic said. “That was a big thing for me. A lot of stuff we talked about was more with Billy because he’s the head coach and he’s the one that makes those decisions. But it was finding ways to utilize me more. Not so much only for me shooting the ball and scoring, but using my playmaking ability to help the team in different ways.’’
Basically, he’d like to see an approach akin to how the Heat used Bam Adebayo in the postseason and how the Nuggets employed Nikola Jokic during their championship run.
It’s not about “Let Vooch Eat’’ as much as “Let Vooch Serve.’’
“I think we can see a lot more teams do it and do it at a high level,’’ Vucevic said of NBA teams letting big men handle the ball and facilitate. “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.’’
The other reason behind his return was pride. Vucevic is aware of what the Bulls gave up to acquire him from the Magic at the 2021 trade deadline and feels the team can do better.
Could he have gone ring-shopping in free agency and looked for a team with deeper playoff possibilities? Absolutely. It’s not like he broke the bank at three years, $60 million.
Plus, as much as Bulls fans love to point his way when there’s disappointment, statistically he took major steps forward from two seasons ago and was part of a top-five defense in 2022-23.
“I just felt like there was a lot of work [to be done],’’ Vucevic said. “Chicago traded for me. They brought me here. They gave up a lot for me. And so I felt a responsibility to come back and help the team do better than we did.’’
