On Tuesday night, the Chicago
Bulls tried something new against the Minnesota Timberwolves:
starting their two centers, Nikola Vucevic and Andre Drummond,
together.
The Bulls normally start Vucevic
and surround him with four perimeter players, but head coach Billy
Donovan elected to move Vucevic to the four in this game and play
Drummond alongside him at the five.
The Bulls started the two big
men to counter Minnesota’s huge frontline of Karl-Anthony Towns and
Rudy Gobert, and the results were rather interesting.
The two-man lineup of Vucevic
and Drummong has appeared in just seven games and played 54 minutes
together. However, in those seven games, the pairing has the
highest offensive rating (130.6) and overall net rating (14.3)
Vucevic has had with a teammate this season.
Against the Wolves, Vucevic and
Drummond had a net rating of 8.7 and a plus-minus of +3. They
shared the floor for 25 minutes, achieving an offensive net rating
of 134.7 – again, the highest of all two-man lineups with
Vucevic.
Although there were some spacing
issues, the two big men worked their way around it on some
offensive sets. The rest of the minutes were then staggered to
cater to each big man and have a different playstyle for each when
they were on the floor.
Out of Vucevic’s 10 baskets,
half of those came with Drummond on the floor. Among those were
pick-and-pop jumpers (2), fadeaway jumpers from the left wing (2),
and a driving floater in the lane.
On Vucevic’s two threes, the
Bulls utilized the two big men differently. First, Drummond sets a
high pick for the ballhandler while Vucevic trails down the floor
at the top of the key. Vucevic’s man, Naz Reid, helps at the nail
on the drive, leaving Vucevic open for the triple.
Vooch first three pic.twitter.com/hJwpStBnX4
– Mon Anthony Valmoria (@morval_)
February 8, 2024
In the second play, notice how
Drummond is slotted at the dunker spot while the ballhandler and
Vucevic flow into an empty corner pick-and-pop action for another
three.
Vooch second three pic.twitter.com/Vr3gsHPIE0
– Mon Anthony Valmoria (@morval_)
February 8, 2024
What’s even more impressive is
that the two started practicing the twin-towers combo the day of
the game.
“We just started practicing it
today,” Drummong said post-game. “That wasn’t long either, but we figured it out.
He’s a smart player, I’m a smart player. I stay out of his way and
likewise. We figured it out throughout the game and found good
chemistry.”
The 12-year veteran thrived
against the three-time DPOY Gobert and Minnesota’s top-ranked
defense. Drummond was backing Gobert down in the paint, pulling off
some highlight plays and celebrating with “too small” gestures
after he scored.
Andre Drummond deep in his celebration bag
👀🔴 pic.twitter.com/ODxXPH6mWJ— Taco Trey Kerby (@treykerby)
February 7, 2024
With this interesting lineup,
the Bulls scored 129 points, which is way more than what the Wolves
usually allows (106.8 points per game), as they have the best
defensive net rating in the NBA.
Vucevic and Drummond ended up
combining for 40 points, and this allowed Coby White to take over
in the fourth quarter and overtime. With the Wolves’ defense keying
in on both bigs, White came up with 21 points in the fourth quarter
on 7-of-8 from the field, including 4-of-5 from three. He finished
the game with 33 points, 7 assists and 5 rebounds.
Coby White had the TAKEOVER badge 🔥
33 pts | 11-21 FG | 5 reb | 7 ast pic.twitter.com/B0wBM3soBa
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls)
February 7, 2024
An Most-Improved-Player
frontrunner, White knocked down tough threes late in the game,
which has been a big part of his improvement this year.
But the spotlight belonged to
Vucevic and Drummond. Even though it was a small sample size,
there’s excitement about how the pairing can be used against
certain matchups going forward.
“They got to pick their poison,”
Drummond said of his pairing with Vucevic. “Whether you let me beat
you up in the paint or he (Vucevic) can shoot the three or beat you
up in the paint too. So, it’s a great tandem, for sure.”
