Bulls Free Agency Primer: Shooting Guards

NBA free agency opens at the stroke of midnight on July 1, which players will the Chicago Bulls be pursuing and who is a good fit?

This year, the free agent class features some marquee names and adds the complexity of a rocketing salary cap, which now reaches $94 million. We are going to look at each position throughout the week, determining who are some of the top players who will be available and the likelihood that they end up with the Chicago Bulls.

Yesterday, we looked at the point guard position. Today, we are looking at the free agent market for shooting guards.

The two guard is a particularly weak spot in the lineup for the Bulls. While Jose Calderon, Jerian Grant and Spencer Dinwiddie don’t inspire at the point, Chicago is in a dire situation at shooting guard. The carryover is Mike Dunleavy and Tony Snell. Likely, both players are near the end of their time with the Bulls. Dunleavy’s combination of injury and age make it harder to picture him as a key piece of any roster and Snell has experienced a very unsteady, if unfortunate, beginning to his career. The famous Gar Forman “retooling” of 2016 is already underway at the position, as Chicago used the No. 14 pick in the 2016 draft to select shooting guard Denzel Valentine of Michigan State. What isn’t clear is if the Bulls will stop there or look to add more players at the position for the upcoming season.

Here are some of the top shooting guards of the 2016 free agent class:

Dwyane Wade (Unrestricted Free Agent)

Wade is a son of Chicago. It would only seem to balance the scales that losing Derrick Rose would have to balance out somehow. However, there is no chance that the godfather Pat Riley lets anyone get away from him that he wishes to keep. The Bulls would be right to feel out Wade’s interest, but the Heat are going to be a better team than Chicago this year and will be looking to give Wade his last big payday in the league.

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Eric Gordon (Unrestricted Free Agent)

This is an interesting option for no other reason than that Gordon could be gettable for the Bulls. Everything here screams no, don’t do it. Could anything be a more tantalizing dare for Forman? Gordon has been an injury concern for as long as recent memory cares to recall and he isn’t the kind of player you want to commit new market money to looking down. Chicago already knows far too much about injuries, particularly to big money guards on long term deals.

DeMar DeRozan (Unrestricted Free Agent)

DeRozan is getting ready for his first big payday and he has earned it. He was a centerpiece, along with fellow guard Kyle Lowry, in the Toronto Raptors deep run in the playoffs. Yes, Drake had nothing to do with it, mostly these two guards lit everyone up. Except, you know, the Bulls. Right now, the market seems to say that DeRozan is a prime candidate for the Lakers who are going to start their star hunt this year while ramping up to chase players like Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook in the not-so-distant future. With the money that Los Angeles has available, along with all the non-basketball attractions, this option will be a long shot for pretty much every other team in the league, save Toronto.

Evan Fournier (Restricted Free Agent)

Fournier is probably best known for having the name you should never Google image search. Beyond that, he was a member of the Denver Nuggets prior to getting sent to the Orlando Magic. In his lone season in Orlando, he saw a big spike in playing time and usage under Scott Skiles. The Magic will have a say in where Fournier ends up, but is he a part of the plan for new head coach Frank Vogel? If the Bulls were to pursue, they would smart to approach with caution. Fournier showed signs of being a starter type guard last season, but it wasn’t exactly consistent and a big overbuy right now would be a terrible idea.

Troy Daniels (Restricted Free Agent)

Much like yesterday’s look at the point guard market, the Bulls are probably best suited to avoid all of the top names on the market. Similarly, the amount of money and the length of contracts for the other players on this list are all bad ideas. While the new cap room makes it seem not quite as bad, it is also the same cap room that will allow these players to majorly cash in. Daniels in the one exception and my favorite fit for the Bulls. He was the best player from 3-point range in the entire league among players who had less than 500 minutes of playing time for most of the season and finished the season shooting 48.4 percent from deep. He did that on a 3-point shooting Hornets teams where he took Jeremy Lamb’s minutes away by the end of the season despite Lamb have an incredible start to the year. He is also an attractive option because he has spent so much time being passed around and undervalued that a reasonable offer would be appealing to him and it wouldn’t break the bank for the Bulls as they look to other free agents this summer and start planning for next summer. The Hornets are also in a bad spot right now to try and match any offer to Daniels. They are looking to bring back a number of free agents including Nicolas Batum, Jeremy Lin, Courtney Lee, Marvin Harrison and possibly Al Jefferson. If they want to be able to afford even two or three of these players, they’ll need to let Daniels walk and hopefully the Bulls will be waiting.

Next: Gasol Declines Player Option

We will have more in-depth coverage on some of the players who will be available via free agency throughout the week so be sure to check in with us each day as July 1 inches closer. Tomorrow, we will look at free agent small forward options for the Bulls.

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