The pairing of DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevi has been brewing lately.
Since January 1, DeRozan and Vucevic have been the NBA's most consistent ball-screen partnership per second on the spectrum. The Chicago Bulls scored 1.11 points on a trip featuring the Derojan–Vusevic ball screen—the second-best mark among high-volume pairings.
(The Sons are getting 1.26 points per capture on tours featuring Chris Paul-Deandre Ayton Ball-screened. Good freakin' luck, man.)
It makes sense that pair work. The DeRozan is a downhill savant with mid-range maneuvering that reminds you of a former Los Angeles Laker. Vucevic can engage as a roller, a short-roller, and a pick-and-pop threat. That type of versatility makes life difficult for a defense, as we saw during the Bulls' 120-109 win over the San Antonio Spurs on Monday night.
Duck against DeRozan, and he'll slow his way into the spots anyway. Go to a screen and pay extra attention to your drive, and Vucevi can find a lane for the rim or flare for a triple. Pay too much attention to Vucevic, and DeRozan could be baking single coverage.
Switch screens, and you're in double-trouble; DeRozan has been generating one point per possession on isolation against centers this season, while Vucevic is punishing guards or forwards at post-ups at almost the same clip (1.01 PPP).
And speaking of post-ups, you usually imagine guards spreading the floor around an injury or skillful center. Because of DeRozan's craft — and Vucevic's shooting ability — the Bulls are able to reverse that look. Pay close attention to DeRozan, and you get things like this:
All of this sets the stage for the daggers of the end of the fourth quarter. In a game where he scored 40 skillful points, it was the seventh penny of DeRozan's affair that caught my eye. I'll show it in full below, then we'll break down this sucker.
First, in light of how effective the partnership is, and how effective it was in the game (1.57 ppp on a direct hookup), it is understandable that the Bulls wanted to end the game with a Derojan-Vusevic ball-screen.
The Spurs tried drop coverage for most of the game, especially in the first half, and it simply didn't work. Too much space was provided. The adjustment was for their grown-ups - either Jacob Poetl or Zach Collins - to play "up to touch" on the screen, meaning they would level up before settling in a drop.
On this possession, the Spurs are planning to do exactly that. However, helping the weaker side is important. With Poeltl playing at this high level, Vucevic is likely to slip. Doug McDermott tasks Lonnie Walker IV with making short-roll rotations; Which leaves McDermott to split the difference - playing between two defenders - on the weaker side.
There's a lot of ground for this, and it's especially difficult to cover on the fly. That's why DeRozan's next move — a spin away from Vucevic's screen — is so weird. This leaves Keldon Johnson in his tracks, Poettle on the wrong side of a screen that isn't even used, Walker IV out of position and McDermott in an impossible spot at the same time.
McDermott is already standing at least 20 feet from each other for two people. Once Javonte Green cuts the baseline, the drama is really dead. DeRozan drives up, leaps into the air while staring Green's cut to move McDermott, then fires a dart at Coby White for an open three.
I'm not sure what to do with it.