Pippen Ain't Easy
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Chicago Bulls Must Keep Nikola Mirotic for 2017 Playoff Run

By Michael RENE KANOY

Dec 21, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bulls forward Nikola Mirotic (44) grabs an offensive rebound against Washington Wizards center Marcin Gortat (13) during the first half at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports
Dec 21, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bulls forward Nikola Mirotic (44) grabs an offensive rebound against Washington Wizards center Marcin Gortat (13) during the first half at the United Center. Mandatory Credit: Mike DiNovo-USA TODAY Sports /
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When Nikola Mirotic’s game shows its true face, Mirotic makes the Bulls a threat to any team Fred Hoiberg will be facing if they make a playoff run. Keeping him on the team and extending his contract will show if Gar Forman is smart or flaky.

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Mirotic has a tendency to surprise everyone with huge scoring games, then he goes under the radar again.

His game thrives off a share-the-ball European basketball system that sets up shooters in rhythm to score. When the ball moves around, scorers like Niko, Doug McDermott and Paul Zipser get their game going and this extends over the course of four quarters of basketball. In the video below, we see one of the rare moments where both Marquette Alphas, Jimmy Butler and Dwyane Wade, do not hesitate to pass the ball to Nikola when he is in position to score, whether he is posting up asking for the ball, at the corner, or at the top of the arc.

The no-hesitation, swing the ball around until it hits a shooter in rhythm is what makes basketball at all levels easy and fun. Passing to your shooters makes their minutes count. There used to be Chicago role players whose games were one-dimensional: catch-and-shoot 3-point gunners like Aaron Brooks and Mike Dunleavy. Those Bulls players didn’t work out very well at all during their playoff run stints.

Mirotic and McDermott are not simple 3-point shooting, role-players coming out of the Spanish League and from NCAA basketball.

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Both are high-pedigree scoring machines who will not get their game going if they don’t get the minutes nor the passes to get their games going.

Nikola Mirotic has 67.6 percent of his scoring from 2-point range assisted for this year. For 3-point scoring, Mirotic has 96 percent of his 3-point scoring assisted and he scores a respectable 40.5 percent clip from corner 3s.

These are game stats, but if you use the eye test, watch how Nikola scores attacking the basket with Rajon Rondo getting him a timely assist or when he gets strong 3-point shooting games like the win against the Indiana Pacers. Stats only say what you do on the court. They don’t show how awesome you do it as a basketball player.

There is no way any NBA player in a trade scenario can be better than Nikola as a face-the-basket, cutting or driving, shoot-in-your-face player, and a very good 3-point option for his current salary. The Bulls count on him as a scoring versatile forward who can dominate other bigs attacking the basket and as a remarkable upside, has explosive 3-point games that puts close games out of reach or helps the team out of a scoring drought.

Nikola is not some role-playing, 3-point shot specialist and like Bobby Portis, it would be a disservice to play him as one.

Does Gar Forman want to settle for anything less?  No sense trading Mirotic right now just because he gets into scoring funks. Hoiberg’s system practically guarantees that Mirotic and McDermott can score and shoot the lights out, especially when playing with playoff and championship veteran Rondo.

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Mirotic getting a respectable extended contract keeps the Bulls a competitive playoff team as the most underrated, and equally explosive scoring stretch-four on the team, better than Kevin Love in my opinion, and he should really be utilized in the same scoring and offensive role as Love is utilized in Cleveland. Pass him the ball when he is open.

When Chicago moves anybody else prior to the NBA trade deadline, Mirotic can have more minutes and scoring opportunities to show his game.

Mirotic can do better than any player they have in mind in any player trade scenario. As a team player, Nikola is McDermott’s best scoring partner in the frontcourt and a legitimate Bulls’ starter option for team matchups that take advantage of his face-the-basket, 3-point sniper game.

The NBA Playoffs are always a grind.  And if Jimmy Butler and Dwyane Wade make it as far as  a first-round run, having Mirotic on the bench assures the Bulls that if either get hurt or get gassed, they have a Spanish League star just waiting to surprise everyone again how good he is.

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