The Celtics\u2019 need for another big man has been clear all season, but became more evident during recent weeks when Joe Mazzulla avoided using Xavier Tillman and Chris Boucher even when the team\u2019s frontcourt was shorthanded. So Nikola Vu\u010devi\u0107 will fill a roster need. <\/p>\n
How well will he fit on the court? That much remains to be determined. <\/p>\n
Vu\u010devi\u0107’s passing and pick-and-pop ability should give the Celtics a new dimension. They haven\u2019t really had a shooting center this season; while Luka Garza has shot the ball well from downtown (44.1 percent), he only attempts about three 3-pointers per 36 minutes. Vu\u010devi\u0107 attempts more than five, and his history as a strong outside shooter will force teams to respect that shot.<\/p>\n
His post-up game will also be a new wrinkle for the Celtics, though it’s unclear how much they actually use it. So far this season, Vu\u010devi\u0107 has posted up 2.6 times per game, more than anyone on the entire Celtics’ roster. He hasn\u2019t been very efficient in those opportunities, but throwing the ball down there from time to time could give the Celtics’ offense another layer. <\/p>\n
How will he impact the defense? His mobility isn\u2019t ideal, but neither is Garza\u2019s, and the Boston defense has been able to survive with him on the court.<\/p>\n
If and when Jayson Tatum returns, the roster should be more complete with Vu\u010devi\u0107 than it would have been with Anfernee Simons.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The Celtics\u2019 need for another big man has been clear all season, but became more evident during recent…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":456699,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[557],"tags":[64,63,590,85],"class_list":["post-456698","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456698","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456698"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456698\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456699"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456698"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456698"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456698"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}