GarPax should allow Tony Snell to return next year, despite a disappointing season.
One of the victims of Jimmy Butler‘s “I-am-Leader!” Megatron-mode for the Chicago Bulls this past season may have been Tony Snell.
When Joakim Noah was playing point center or with Derrick Rose kicking out, Snell had plenty of highlight-film moments. He was a decent catch-and-shoot player and a strong, athletic slasher when set up by the point center or the point guard. He could even guard passing lanes fairly well and even locked down LeBron James in the same game where he scored 20+ ponts two seasons ago.
When the Bulls strangely devolved into more ISOs and pick-and-roll sets for Butler and Pau Gasol, it undermined the games of almost the entire roster especially the shooters: from Doug McDermott, to Nikola Mirotic and the scapegoat of armchair GM Bulls fans: Tony Snell.
They all played unseemly alongside Butler on the wing, getting empty minutes in the first half of the season.
Empty minutes and abnormally low production, despite plenty of playing time.
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There was plenty of playing time wasted seeing the Bulls shooters run out and camping at the corners on offense waiting for passes. Butler couldn’t put up numbers with a faster game, so he requested Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg to slow down the game and stunted the shooting game of the entire team’s arsenal.
McDermott and Mirotic were out of their element playing 20+ minutes a game and not getting any numbers because Mr. Jimmy Hollywood was busy playing hero-ball scoring 40 points and 50 points against teams the Bulls would normally put away with less effort like Philadelphia and Toronto.
Look how easily the Bulls can win — especially in the last two games of the season — when their shooters were given free rein. The Bulls made 15 three-pointers in the last game against the Sixers by the bench (including Tony Snell); the same team that Butler scored 50 against to look improbably like Michael Jordan.
The Bulls need Tony Snell playing shooting guard, replacing Butler, so that they retain someone who is a better slasher and a better shooter from range when set up in rhythm.
Rabid, armchair general managers and Bulls fans would point out all of Snell’s fumbles. He was used by Hoiberg as a starter for 18 games as wing defender and had empty minutes.
Fans did not see Butler secretly taking advantage of a narrower focus on offense, running the ball thru him all game long. That limited the touches and decent looks for shooters like Snell and the others.
Fans and maybe even Hoiberg expected Snell to create opportunities on his own while playing as a starter. Snell had some good games then subsequently disappeared in others, sometimes with no points at all.
Why?
Snell plays better off a passing teammate like Noah or Rose. But not with a black-hole player like Butler.
If Joakim Noah can vouch for Snell as a good guy, it might help him rebound from the bad experiment the Bulls had with Gasol and Butler this past season. With Noah back on the team next year (if Paxson and Forman decide to keep him) and Rose given the helm, with either Tony Snell or Justin Holiday at the two-guard, expect a smoother offense than Megatron Jimmy.
Smoother is the key word.
With Butler traded away for better chemistry players, the Bulls already have their offense ready and waiting: a main scoring team of Mirotic, McDermott and Rose that can fill out the production lost from Gasol and Butler. The bench is just short a player or two.
The value of Snell is more intangible because he can guard good wing players and make Holiday’s work easier if both of them are swarming opponents on defense. If Holiday is left by himself to toil on defense, he can get out-muscled or outmaneuvered, but when paired with Cristiano Felicio or Bobby Portis swarming, they can play defense like no one’s business.
Holiday most certainly might get fatigued over the course of the season if tasked to be a solo lock-down wing defender and fatigue/injuries can cause a season to tank. (After Noah hauled down 16 rebounds in one losing effort-tiring work given all the running around in Hoiball, the subsequent games saw him getting his shoulder dislocated and his season ended.)
Paxson should consider stuff like this to keep his team healthy. Defense works better in pairs and in threes or fours, rather than just having just one player do all the work containing an opposing scorer. Snell essentially settles into the shoes of Butler as the Bulls’ backup shooting guard or wing defender who can help Holiday and Portis look precious when trapping ball-carriers.
Next: Putting the 2015-16 season for the Bulls to rest
The turnaround of Tony Snell’s game next year should be no surprise to everyone who knows this kid can play if his teammates aren’t Megatron.