Uncertainty about Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler‘s futures with the Chicago Bulls may swing the organization to look to other assets to build around; like the player the Bulls gave up two first-round draft picks for: Doug McDermott.
If Derrick Rose stays in Chicago after the 2016-17 season, he may not be effective on offense for long minutes because his explosive play takes a toll on his legs during the grind of an 82-game season.
If Jimmy Butler stays in the long-term, he may not work out if he continues to hog the ball and refuses to adopt a more defensive and facilitating role.
It will probably look like a complete overreaction this early to endorse my personal favorite Bulls player like this, but GarPax and Fred Hoiberg might want to rethink their plans and build the team around their younger players like Doug McDermott.
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McDermott getting the call as a member of the Select Team for Team USA allows us all to see that he can be valuable in the right situations. The Bulls can review what McDermott can do for the USA Select team as a scorer and go from there.
The best up-and-coming NBA players are picked for the Select Team and McDermott’s ability to put the ball in the basket has been scouted and noted.
Rose (along with Joakim Noah and Cristiano Felicio in limited action) have already proven to be a good fit in tandem with McDermott, looking for him when there are open looks from the perimeter.
Watching the NBA’s conference finals and the NBA Finals itself, these past few weeks has given us a look at what worked for the four teams that competed at the championship level.
The Chicago Bulls rebuilding around their younger pieces like McDermott should note what these insights require for the core team to be a legitimate contender:
- Teamwork and ball movement can break down any defense if you have elite shooting. (The Bulls were third in the NBA in team three-point shooting percentage this year.)
- Each team needs a tandem (or trio) of main scorers; inside-out players who can score on every possession.
- Westbrook-Durant (Oklahoma City), Lowry-DeRozan (Toronto), James-Irving-Love (Cleveland), Curry-Thompson-Green (Golden State). The Bulls have Rose, Butler, McDermott and Mirotic.
- Role players providing a spark on a consistent basis. For Oklahoma City, it was Enes Kanter and Steven Adams. Bismack Biyombo kept Toronto’s hopes alive for a while in the Eastern Conference Finals. (The Bulls need to address this during the summer.)
- “Hero ball” can only go so far. The Westbrook-Durant duo could not get over the hump against Golden State late in the Western Conference Finals. The same thing goes for Lowry and DeRozan in their Cleveland series. (This can be revolved around Jimmy Butler’s play.)
Someone like Doug McDermott can definitely become a more utilized scorer for the Bulls and everything falls into place better with more options. His place on offensive sets can change by moving him around into different spots in the half-court that make it more difficult to slow him and the Bulls down.
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With McDermott more involved, McDermott’s a good enough passer to feed the post or a cutter like Jimmy Butler to trap defenders into sagging down into the paint. That will open up both the corner three and McDermott for an open look. The Bulls can set Nikola Mirotic there because he can also be deadly driving from the wings to the rim against slower bigs.
Overall, placing McDermott high and having a good post offense with someone like Felicio diving to the rim, that can produce a more fluid and explosive offense.
McDermott can stuff the stat sheet, which is why he must take over the offense of the team at times moving forward. Joakim Noah can still be the heart and soul of the team if he is signed back and he could be a nice cog for a more McDermott-based offensive look at times.
One of the best players to pair with McDerrmott aside from Noah should be a post player or rim attacker, like Bobby Portis. You can look at the film from last year’s Summer League and you’ll see what plays the team might run best next year over and over that has McDermott and Portis working off one another.
Hoiberg could even rework the Butler pick-and-roll into having McDermott in place of Gasol and result in some quicker shots from three with Butler kicking the ball back when McDermott frees up.
It still feels like a waiting game for the Bulls with the draft approaching on June 23 and the free agency period starting on July 1.
Next: Bulls front office is incapable of making impactful trades, let alone trading Jimmy Butler
Until then, we can watch McDermott scrimmage with the USA Olympic Team (where Butler might gain an Olympic spot) and see if he can wing it against the best of the NBA.