There are two types of Chicago Bulls fans when it comes to Nikola Vucevic: the type that appreciates what the skilled veteran brings to the team, and the type that has wanted him off the team as the elder statesman on a squad that probably should commit to a total rebuild.

These days there are plenty of fans that reside somewhere in the middle, as Vucevic--who was expected to fall off an age-related cliff production-wise--has been solid on offense in his age-35 season. But the problem being, as it usually is with Vucevic, is that the defense is still a major problem. We will get into the specifics later, but for now, it is fair to say that Vucevic's floor spacing is probably important enough for a Bulls team without much in the way of frontcourt depth to put up with his defense. So how has Vucevic performed over all this season?

Vucevic has had a solid season offensively. He is averaging 17 points, 9.0 rebounds, and a career-high 3.8 assists. The Montenegrin big man is usually an every-other-year shooter, but he is in the midst of stringing together back-to-back solid shooting seasons, shooting 36.9% on 4.8 attempts per game from 3-point range. 

The passing has been the most important part of Vucevic's game in my opinion, just because this is a season where the Bulls guard rotation (and thus playmaking) has been routinely plagued by injury. Per Cleaning The Glass (paid site which filters out garbage time) Vucevic has an 18% Assist Rate, putting him in the 86th percentile for bigs in that category. 

Overall (per Cleaning The Glass), the Bulls offense is shooting a higher Effective FG% when Vucevic is on the floor, and turning the ball over less, but still not performing well mostly due to a lack of offensive rebounds and free throws. 

It has been common knowledge for quite some time that Vucevic is not a dependable defender. He can give effort, but his age, mobility, and overall skill set doesn't allow him to be a deterrent at the rim. There are multiple weak spots in the Bulls defense, but it usually starts with the fact that opposing offenses attack Vucevic in the pick-and-roll. 

Per Cleaning The Glass, the Bulls defense is 3.1 points worse with Vucevic on the floor. Vucevic is the player who has played the most minutes on the Bulls this season at 1,257 minutes. He may be giving it his all, but a decent chunk of the Bulls issues with defense start (and end) with Vucevic acting as the team's rim protector. To Vucevic's credit, he has always known his strengths and weaknesses, and thusly focuses on what he can do.

When Vucevic is on the floor, the Bulls are elite at keeping teams off of the offensive glass and the free throw line, but they are not forcing turnovers at all, and are simply giving up too many points.