Rising Stars Report Card: Grading the Young Chicago Bulls

Doug McDermott

Second-year forward Doug McDermott was picked up by the Chicago Bulls in the 2014 NBA Draft and is showing a lot of promise, in which furthers the Bulls’ hope to have him regularly playing in the rotation moving forward.

Strengths

McDermott has shown the most significant improvement since coming into the league last year. He entered his rookie season after playing ball at Creighton, having been known as an offensive force to be reckoned with. This was not the case for the second-year player last season. McDermott struggled to find his way partly because of an injury he endured and a learning curve that all rookies experience.

This season, McDermott has shown a lot of promise as a scorer the team can rely on. He moves well without the ball and put himself in situations to make buckets. While McDermott is not known for his defense in the NBA, he is showing some promise down the stretch in his second year. He’s moving much quicker with his feet and is learning what it means to play team defense.

Weaknesses

McDermott finds himself being a target of the opposing team’s offense for a number of reasons. For one thing, he’s a second-year player who is still learning the ropes. Secondly, there are times where McDermott needs to recognize there is help at the defensive end when his man beats him off the dribble. It’s been an issue for the Bulls this season partly because they cannot have McDermott on the floor if he cannot stick to his matchup on defense. While he is a gifted scorer, he is still learning how to become the complete package.

Final Grade

A-

Next: Nikola Mirotic