Chicago Bulls Off-Season Grades: Small Forward

The Chicago Bulls had a surprisingly busy off-season, adding veterans Rajon Rondo and Dwyane Wade. Beyond the two biggest additions for the Bulls, there were a number of other moves throughout the roster, touching every position.

There have been so many moves conducted by Chicago that when we ran the moves made at point guard and shooting guard earlier this week, Isaiah Canaan didn’t even come up. Of course, Canaan was signed by the Bulls in addition to the acquisitions of Spencer Dinwiddie, Jerian Grant, Jose Calderon for a short time, Rajon Rondo, and Dwyane Wade.

The backcourt was an extremely busy place during the Chicago Bulls off-season, but as we shift to the frontcourt things start to lighten up.

Small Forward Grade: D

Next: 2016-17 Division Preview: Milwaukee Bucks

D is for Dunleavy. As in, Mike Dunleavy – former Bull. Chicago traded the veteran combo player to help create room for the big splash on Dwyane Wade. Somehow, the move doesn’t feel like a good one. Sure, moving Dunleavy seems like a great idea. Last season he was waylaid by injury and the most recent Mike highlight that pops to mind was when Giannis Antetokounmpo form tackled him during a playoff game in 2014.

Dunleavy was also part of a long line of veteran shooters who were good, but not at their peak while with Chicago. These players also seemed inept at creating their own scoring opportunities while in town, making them generally one-dimensional and not great at that dimension. Digging deeper than Dunleavy, you’ll remember Kyle Korver. Korver went on to make a lot of 3-pointers for the Atlanta Hawks during their mini-run of success before falling victim to the “hustle” of Matthew Dellavedova. And there was Rip Hamilton before them, a guard primarily, but of the same mold. The ability to shoot was present in all three players, though it never really came together for any of them in Chicago.

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While Hamilton had his heyday before coming to Chicago, Korver had his after leaving town. Now, it looks like Dunleavy is on to much greener pastures as he joins division foe Cleveland. Why the Bulls moved Dunleavy, I get. He was getting older, coming off of an injury and more limited in his ability to impact a game on a salary that would look better on someone else’s books. He can still do something, though. Giving him to Cleveland just makes another division opponent that better than they were, which was already much better than whatever Chicago is.

The only addition that the Bulls have at small forward this season is going to be their second-round draft pick, Paul Zipser. The German international has been playing for Bayern Munich in his native country, but will be joining Chicago after the Olympics. At 22 years old, Zipser is one of the younger players to make the jump from Europe to the league. He will be intriguing to watch because he didn’t exactly have much hype surrounding him heading into the draft and had the Bulls not drafted him, he might have been available when the draft was over and been brought in on a non-guaranteed deal.