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An Open Letter/Ode to Nikola Vuc

I will always remember seeing the great potential in you as a young big. I vividly remember watching you dominate games as a player of the bench and I thought to myself, ‘that’s a player you can build a team around’. Your mid range was so consistent. Your hands and footwork were fantastic. You dominated around the hoop, using deft post moves on both sides of your body. Every time you stepped on the floor as a role player, I envisioned ’20-10’.

I will remember the great memory of pursuing you in a trade. You were a player on the Houston Rockets, a middle-tier team with playoff aspirations. We realise your ability to put up 20-10 and worked tirelessly to orchestrate a trade to acquire you. Finally, after giving up significant value in Ricky Rubio and Samuel Dalembert, you were heading to Boston… and we couldn’t have been happier. A young, center, whose best days were yet to come.

I will always remember you as a player that symbolised the new era of Boston Celtics basketball.  You have shared a lot of teammates over the three seasons you spent as a Celtic, and you’ve helped every one of them. So many memories. Like when Lance, OJ, Pau, KD and yourself went on a 31 game winning streak in 2014-15, getting to a record of 50-8, before injuries derailed the season. Or when you made the NLL finals in 2016, battling valiantly against the battle-hardened Tyson Chandler.




I will always remember the early struggles of the 2016-17 season. The first time in years that the Celtics team was lost. Lots of new players, a new engine, an increasingly competitive field of teams. I remember beginning to notice the weaknesses in our team for the first time, and that they were costing us games. I remember the games we gave up 15+ points and lost. I remember being one of the worst teams at stopping players in the paint and at the three point line.

I remember the two weeks or so it took me to decide that I was to finally move on and trade you. For a long time, it would never have been an option. Even up until my decision, I didn’t want to trade you nor did I know if it was the right thing to do or not. I came to a realisation that both of us, not just the team, might benefit from a change of scenery. I want the team to succeed; I want you to succeed, too.

You are incredibly talented, a great worker and a gifted scorer and rebounder, and if personnel decisions were made on heart alone, you’d be a Celtic forever.

You are still very young, and I hope this spurs you onto greater achievements under the bright lights in LA. I will always wonder what life would be like if I'd have held off on trading you. My favourite Celtic, thus far.





One day, I will sit down and think… Gee, I remember that Vucevic guy. He was one helluva basketball player.