NASHVILLE, Tenn. — Bulls center Nikola Vucevic and coach Billy Donovan were seeing the same thing.
Even though thousands of miles separated them at times during the summer, they were still connected.
Watching big man Bam Adebayo during the Heat’s march to the NBA Finals or Nuggets center Nikola Jokic dance his way into history as an NBA champion, the blueprint was staring Vucevic and Donovan in the face.
Using Adebayo to bring the ball up the floor and be a playmaker — especially in the Celtics series — was the Heat’s secret sauce. And Jokic wreaked havoc on opponents with the same strategy.
“Well, that’s just Joker,’’ Vucevic said.
Now Vucevic would like to hear opposing teams say, “Well, that’s just Vooch.’’
With the front office opting to bring the entire core back and adding a dash of outside shooting and toughness in Torrey Craig and Jevon Carter, something had to change for the league’s 22nd-ranked scoring offense.
“The way our team is built, we need a change,’’ Vucevic said. “I think at times last year we got a little too predictable the way we were playing, and we became easy to guard. I think if we can throw different things at a defense, we’ll be tough to stop.’’
Vucevic was hoping one of those looks would involve him bringing the ball up and the team running actions through him, whether a simple dribble handoff or two-man action off the ball.
It would improve three weaknesses that Donovan and the front office have identified: First, the Bulls will get into transition quicker if Vucevic rebounds the ball and pushes the action himself. Second, off-the-ball actions are simply tougher to communicate for the defense. Finally, because the opposing big man has to respect Vucevic’s perimeter shot, he has to drift outside, opening up the paint.
Donovan wants his team driving and kicking more this season, hoping to change the shot profile to one that has more free-throw opportunities and three-point looks, so Vucevic as a primary ballhandler makes sense.
“To be honest with you, we were one of the worst teams in the league last year in getting into the teeth of the defense,’’ Donovan said. “We’ve got to create the space to do that.’’
But the first question the 6-10, 32-year-old Vucevic had to answer was: Does he handle the ball well enough to push it up the floor?
“Yeah, I mean, I’m not as good a ballhandler as maybe Bam — he’s a little shorter than me — but I can do it well enough to get into handoffs and get into positions to help the offense,’’ Vucevic said.
How often the Bulls will employ this look is unknown, obviously. They begin the preseason Sunday in Milwaukee, but, considering it’s more of a scrimmage against the guys from the other neighborhood, don’t expect too much to be showcased.
Once the regular season starts, however, Vucevic expects to get that opportunity to put pressure on opposing defenses.
“I mean off-the-ball movement is very hard to guard, and we have guys that can do that,’’ Vucevic said. “Like, for example, Zach [LaVine] and Coby [White] in action without the ball, cutting for each other, screening for each other, and a lot of times the defense is going to mess up the communication, and it opens up.
‘‘There’s so much we can explore out of it, and using me — especially with my ability to shoot — it’s going to open up the entire floor for us. So we just have to find different ways to attack, not just one way like we did too much last year.’’
