Nikola Vucevic and Zach LaVine have been All-Star teammates, but Thursday’s switch that brought the veteran center to Chicago made them the nucleus of a Bulls team that hopes to make some noise in the playoffs, writes KC Johnson of The Chicago Tribune. Vucevic believes that he and LaVine could eventually become an effective combination.
“He’s a great player and I also heard a lot of good things about him off the court. I look forward to meeting you. On the court, I think our games fit together “, Vucevic said. “Many things Zach likes to do, I can help you with that. He can help me with many things. I think our two-player game can be very good. It will take some time to get to know each other and build this chemistry. But I think that when you have two high caliber players and high IQ players who know how to play the game and play to win, I think it won’t be long. “
There’s more to Chicago:
- Al-Farouq Aminu, which was acquired from Orlando in the same business, will bring a veteran presence to a young team, notes Rob Schaefer of NBC Sports. The 30-year-old striker, who joins the sixth team in his 11-year career, is ready to take a leadership role. “Everyone doesn’t want the voice to always come from the head coach or the coaches or whatever the case may be,” Aminu told reporters after this morning’s shootaround. “At the end of the day, we guys out there. And we can explain to younger players what exactly needs to be done and how it needs to be done. “
- The Bulls overhauled their squad on Thursday, bringing in five new players through negotiations. They were all available for tonight’s game, except for the former Celtics center Daniel Theis, who is resolving family issues and will join the team on Monday, according to Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. Technician Billy Donovan faces the challenge of trying to reshape his team over the 29 final games without much time to practice. “You obviously try to shrink a lot of things in terms of the manual, try to create some clarity defensively for these guys,” Donovan said. “… All of those guys were probably in some kind of system or playing with very familiar faces, and that suddenly changed, not just for them, but for the guys who are here today. We have a lot to work with. ”
- The Bulls have chosen to keep Lauri Markkanen, who is on his way to a restricted free agency this summer, and now he has to prove he can fit into the new look team, Cowley adds in a separate piece.