He is very skilled offensively for a young 7 foot player. he can post up and use both the mid range and longer range jumpshot and is a proven rebounder in college who should continue to get better. Hes a guy who if he stayed for his senior years wouldve jumped his 17.1-10.3 to 21.7 and 11.2 and gone top 5 in the draft.Remember USC was NOT a high out put team--they were slow and methodical--this kid has the goods to be a high quality C/PF in this league for a long time. Too much to not take into serious consideration @ 17. We lack picks for later years--I think in what has been deemed a thin draft we can find other needs later on. This might not be a sexy pick--but its a quality pick.

I like him, but only if we make a trade to move down and pick up another pick in the late 1st round.

nixluva wrote:I'll say this for Vucevic, he's a D'Antoni Center! A C that can play inside and out is perfect for what we need. He's no athletic freak, but his footwork looks great and his skill level looks high.

That the thing--we have two big time scorers but to make them more effective--we need to make their games round off--more assists playmaking sharing etc... this is a 7 footer who can post and hit shots--pick and roll C who plays tough. true we need a defensive C but faried is way too small (if he was a legit 6-8/6-9 245 245 I would really consider him so hopefully between Jordan and Vucevic we set ourselves up for two good interchangeable 7 footers for years to come.

this may help knicks again
(aka Jerome Jordan C- from Bucks last yr)

Sangfroid wrote:

Childs2Dudley wrote:This might be too high to draft him.

I like him, but only if we make a trade to move down and pick up another pick in the late 1st round.

Unfortunately, I don't understand the concept of a "too high" pick. Pick 17 isn't like a lottery pick. It's good value for a player you hope becomes part of your rotation. Better to pay the 3 mil for a second pick in the first round, then hoping he falls to the new slot that you've acquired. I also advocate picking up a 2nd rounder also. There will be good picking there also.

The concept of "too high pick" is that there will be better players available at that pick.

GustavBahler wrote:His shot release looks awfully low. Hard to really tell how good he is from this clip.

Good point. The best way to judge a player is from his productivity at college, not from workout videos. Vucevic is a center with a well-rounded game. He can score in different ways, rebounds well and isn't bad defensively. He'd be good value where we draft.

Ira wrote:

GustavBahler wrote:His shot release looks awfully low. Hard to really tell how good he is from this clip.

Good point. The best way to judge a player is from his productivity at college, not from workout videos. Vucevic is a center with a well-rounded game. He can score in different ways, rebounds well and isn't bad defensively. He'd be good value where we draft.

Even a short youtube clip of game footage is a better indicator. He looks pretty mobile though for a big man. If Vuvecic can play D that would be a big plus. We've got undersized Jeffries patrolling the paint (for the most part) so we definitely need some help.His name sounds like "Vujanic", hope he decides to actually play here if the Knicks draft him.

unstopaball12 wrote:how is his rebounding and defense?

I've read his upside is Mehmet Okur so I'd say best case is that it is OK but he won't be blocking many shots.

Childs2Dudley wrote:

Sangfroid wrote:

Childs2Dudley wrote:This might be too high to draft him.

I like him, but only if we make a trade to move down and pick up another pick in the late 1st round.

Unfortunately, I don't understand the concept of a "too high" pick. Pick 17 isn't like a lottery pick. It's good value for a player you hope becomes part of your rotation. Better to pay the 3 mil for a second pick in the first round, then hoping he falls to the new slot that you've acquired. I also advocate picking up a 2nd rounder also. There will be good picking there also.

The concept of "too high pick" is that there will be better players available at that pick.

History has shown that there will always be a better player after the one that you take. Even if we take the 60th pick, the undrafted player will become the "steal" of the draft. Better to worry about our own plate than that of our neighbors.

In closing, with the draft now just two weeks away, the time has come for me to issue my first prediction of who the Knicks will take at No. 17 (my choice is subject to change depending on what transpires in the next two weeks). My educated guess at this point is Nikola Vujacic, followed by Klay Thompson and Lucas Nogueira, the Brazilian big man who the Knicks will get a closer look at this weekend at the adidas Eurocamp in Italy.

http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/knicks/post/_/id/5321/defenders-the-focus-in-knicks-latest-draft-workouts

http://espn.go.com/blog/new-york/knicks/post/_/id/5287/meet-knicks-draft-prospect-nikola-vucevic

GREENBURGH, N.Y. -- If the Knicks make their first-round draft pick based upon on genealogy and/or projected longevity, they may have found their man on Tuesday.

Center Nikola Vucevic of Southern Cal was in the house, giving the Knicks a firsthand look at the player who measured taller than any other player (6-foot-11 3/4) at the NBA pre-draft camp in Chicago -- a 260-pound college junior who averaged a double-double (17.1 points, 10.3 rebounds) last season in the Pac-10, the same league the Knicks looked to in the second round a year ago when they plucked Landry Fields out of Stanford with the 39th pick.

Vucevic was born in Switzerland and raised in Belgium before he moved to his father's homeland, Montenegro, at age 13, before leaving four years later to spend his senior year of high school in Simi Valley, Calif. At USC, he played for former NBA head coach Kevin O'Neill and was teammates with DeMar DeRozan of the Toronto Raptors and Taj Gibson of the Chicago Bulls.

Vucevic's father, Borislav, was a teammate of Drazen Petrovic on the 1985 Yugoslavian national team and spent 24 years -- yes, 24, or three years more than Robert Parish's NBA career -- playing professionally in Europe.

And do you know how many games the elder Vucevic missed during those 24 years?

Zero.

"He really took care of his body, but I don't know how he did that," Vucevic told ESPNNewYork.com. "He ate healthy -- I remember that, because when you're a kid you don't like all those healthy foods, and me and my sister complained about it. A lot of vegetables and different stuff. He also rested a lot, iced his body, he did a lot of stretching and paid attention to warming up. As he got older he learned a lot about how to take care of his body."

The elder Vucevic played until he was 44, and Vucevic's mother, Ljiljana, played for the Sarajevo club Zeljeznicar as well as the Yugoslavian national team.

Vucevic was especially impressive in an earlier workout for the Charlotte Bobcats, dunking the ball in rapid succession -- using two balls, dunking first with the left hand, then with the right -- 100 consecutive times. Vucevic said he was disappointed with the way he shot the ball in his workout for the Knicks, who are still deciding whether they want to address their glaring need at center through the draft or through free agency.

Vucevic is ranked third among centers and is currently projected to be picked 25th overall by ESPN draft guru Chad Ford, whose Mock Draft 4.0 will be published on Wednesday. ("He is rising," Ford told me in a text message.) Vucevic is also slated to hold workouts for the 76ers and Nets, continuing a whirlwind tour in which scouts are trying to establish exactly what differentiates Vucevic from Turkish center Enes Kanter, who is projected as a top-5 pick. (One difference is their vertical leaps, with Kanter's at 28 inches and Vucevic's at 25 inches).

Among Vucevic's best skills are his inside-out game. Two of his more eye-opening measurements were his wingspan (7-foot-4 1/2) and his body fat percentage (6.1). The biggest knock against him is whether he has the toughness to compete against NBA centers.

He said when he was a teenager he tried to pattern his game after legendary Yugoslavian small forward Dejan Bodiroga, and since coming to America four years ago he has tried to emulate Tim Duncan.

"Coming here and making the change from European-style to American-style [basketball] helped me a lot and made me a lot better," Vucevic said. "I think if I was playing in Europe I never would have achieved the level I achieved playing college basketball. It was good for me because I kind of got a mix of both -- so I leaned to play tough, aggressive and hard all the time, play fast on defense, and I think if I put together my skill level and my aggressiveness and build on them each year, I could be pretty good."