Vasilije Micic, the most valuable player of the European Basketball League in the 2020-21 season, signed a three-year, $23.5 million contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder, which holds Micic’s signing rights, on July 1, 2023, officially entering the world of basketball. The highest palace.
Vasilije Micic, the most valuable player of the European Basketball League in the 2020-21 season, signed a three-year, $23.5 million contract with the Oklahoma City Thunder, which holds Micic’s signing rights, on July 1, 2023, officially entering the world of basketball. The highest palace.
Micic is from Serbia. He is 196 centimeters tall. He mainly plays defender on the court. He is 30 years old. Before joining the Thunder, he played for the Anadolu Efes team from Istanbul, Turkey, and led the team to win two consecutive championships in the 2020-21 and 2021-22 European Basketball League seasons. He even won the MVP in the 2020-21 season. He averaged 16.1 points and 5 assists per game annually. In fact, there have been rumors in the past offseason that Micic is about to enter the NBA. Especially in 2022, there were news reports that Micic himself only wanted to join a team with the ability to compete in the playoffs. At that time, the Thunder, which had the right to sign the contract, was only a tank team at the bottom of the Western Conference, so it was completely unable to attract Micic’s attention. However, the twist in the plot always comes suddenly. Only one year later, the Thunder reached the play-offs with a record of 40 wins and 42 losses and lacked second place Chet Holmgren, and even defeated the top team. New Orleans Pelicans. Everyone has seen the Thunder’s ability to make the playoffs, and Micic is no exception. So he officially signed with the Thunder in the off-season.
Although Micic can kill everyone in the European leagues, the NBA is a completely different league. From point guards to centers, almost all players are taller, stronger, faster, and have longer arms than European players. Especially the fast pace of the NBA makes it difficult for many players who come to play from Europe to adapt, and Micic is definitely not an exception. In fact, Micic said in an interview before the start of the season that he was still adapting to the differences in the NBA, including wider courts, faster pace, more one-on-one defense, penalty area violations, etc.
From Micic’s first warm-up match against the Detroit Pistons, we can see that Micic’s three-point shot was relatively unstable, and he even threw an Airball. His dribbling across the half court didn’t look so smooth. You can tell. Micic is still a bit unfamiliar with NBA physical fitness and court rhythm. However, from the first game, we can see Micic’s passing acumen and judgment ability on the court as a European defender.
The first goal was a collaboration with Chet Holmgren. After the pick-and-roll, he cut into the penalty area. Because the defender could not keep up with Micic on the first shot, Marvin Bagley III, who had to defend Chet’s pop out three-pointer, had to come in to help defend. Micic saw Bagley To help defend, he intuitively kicked out and passed it to Chet, creating a wide gap from the outside.
Next, he used his own judgment to copy the ball with his hands, forming a fast break opportunity. There were teammates on both sides following him. The last No Look Pass looked to the left to confuse James Wiseman who was defending in the penalty area, and finally passed it to the right side. Lindy Waters III.
In the second game against the Charlotte Hornets, Micic served as the starting point guard. Although his shooting touch was still poor, he delivered an astonishing 8 assists. In this game, you can see Micic’s ability to distribute the ball and kick out after the pick-and-roll. He is especially good at cutting in, almost reaching the deepest part of the penalty area, and passing to teammates in the open.
However, after entering the season, Micic’s physical shortcomings caused him to struggle on the defensive end. In addition, his shooting touch was still unstable, so Micic’s playing opportunities were intermittent. In the Thunder’s 18 games in October and November During the game, he only played a total of 8 games, averaging 12.3 minutes per game, and his overall shooting percentage was 375%. What’s interesting is that although the shot may not be successful, Micic was able to provide assists within a limited time in 8 games, with a total of 22 assists. Especially in the game against the Golden State Warriors on November 17, he sent 7 assists.
After entering December, Micic struggled even more. His bench became hotter and hotter. He only played in 5 games and only hit 4 of 18 shots in total. He was completely exhausted from the three-point line. However, after entering the New Year, Micic’s performance has ushered in the dawn. In January, he was hired by coach Mark Daigneault. He played 14 games in a single month, the most since joining the NBA. He averaged 11.3 minutes per game, scoring 4.2 points and 2.1 assists. Although the data is not eye-catching, Micic’s shooting measurements have evolved to 52.4%/33.3%/76.9% this month, which is a considerable gap compared to 31.0%/20.0%/66.7% from October to December. Today (1), in the game against the Denver Nuggets, Micic even played a career masterpiece. With main player Jalen Williams and sixth man Isaiah Joe missing due to injuries, Micic got 17 minutes of playing time and scored a career-high 12. Points and 5 assists, with a team-high plus-minus of 14, helped the Thunder secure a 105-100 victory. In this game, you can see that Micic played more decisively and aggressively, breaking through decisively with the ball and looking for physical collisions to get fouls, which was rarely seen in previous games. And Micic even scored 5 points at the beginning of the fourth quarter through a beautiful And-1 and cut-in, and sent another beautiful assist, helping the Thunder slowly open up the stalemate in the early part of the fourth quarter. Indeed, He played with the same momentum as when he won MVP in Europe!
From the European Basketball League MVP and main player to the team’s bench, this is definitely not an easy thing for Micic to adapt to, especially since there are a group of younger players on the team than Micic. However, Micic also mentioned in the press conference after today’s game, He believes that the young players on the team are very talented. Although he has a longer experience as a professional player, he definitely does not want to show off as a senior player. He just wants to learn well with these young players! I hope Micic can continue to break out of the cocoon in February, regain his touch and murderous spirit in Europe, inject more veteran value into the young Thunder team, and prepare for the playoffs!
2024-02-01 11:06:08
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