Nikola Vucevic was a man of his word.
After hitting rock bottom in an early season of several low points, the Bulls big man sat visibly frustrated at the interview table in Miami, and promised a commitment of putting his head down and working even harder on his game.
Not because he wasn’t working hard up to that point, but that’s just always been his mindset. That’s all Vucevic knows.
“I got here by working my way up to it,” Vucevic said that night. “Talent is part of it, but I worked my way to the level that I am, and now that I’m going through a tough time the only way I know is to work myself out of it.”
In his four games since that dismal 3-for-15, 10-point performance in the blowout loss to the Heat?
How about 32-for-64 (50%) from the field, 44% from three, 19.3 points per game, as well as 12.8 rebounds per contest. Impressed? Oh by the way, over that span 15 total assists and nine blocks.
Yes, getting back in the lab and getting in extra work while the Bulls were battling with postponements was huge, but give an assist to coach Billy Donovan.
Vucevic sure did.
“I took advantage of the time that we didn’t have games to put the work in, extra work on my game all around,” Vucevic said of his turnaround. “I also took time to look at a lot of game tape, see things that I was doing well and if there were things I could improve on.
“One thing that when I spoke to Billy that has stuck out and helped me is he knew I was frustrated with shooting the ball and he was like obviously as a player you want to shoot the ball well, but his main thing was I shouldn’t let that affect the rest of my game.”
An issue that was on full display in the Miami loss.
Not only did he carry his offensive frustrations to the defensive end, but even seemed disinterested in rebounding that night.
“When I looked at that [Heat] game I really felt that was the biggest thing,” Vucevic continued. “Obviously I didn’t shoot the ball well, but I wasn’t doing whatever else I had to do as a player on the court. I let that affect the rest of my game and I’m too good of a player to do that. I’ve been in this league too long to let a bad shooting night — or even if it was a couple of games it shouldn’t matter — affect my whole game in general.
“I think I was able to regroup and come back and focus on playing well, doing the things that I could control, and letting the rest follow through.”
That was the model in the Atlanta win on Monday night.
Vucevic was 2-for-6 with five points at the half against the Hawks, but had six rebounds, four assists and two blocks. With Atlanta making a run in the fourth, Vucevic balled out, scoring 13 points in that final stanza, as well as hitting three threes and grabbing five more rebounds.
He saved his best for last.
“I didn’t get going much until the second half, but I was able to do other things that kept me in the game, kept me in a rhythm,” Vucevic said.
Not that Vucevic’s teammates were the least bit surprised.
“I know how hard Vooch works,” veteran forward DeMar DeRozan said. “I would never let a period of time of him struggling depict who he is as a player. He’s a dominant force at his position, one of the most skilled big men inside and out that we have in this league. His career speaks for it. It was only a matter of time.”
