Windy City Roster Outlook: Point Guards, Spencer Dinwiddie

The NBA is almost back! With that realization comes another – the inaugural Windy City Bulls season is also just around the corner and with it comes the Windy City roster.

There’s a little more time before the D-League gets underway, but last week we got started by guessing at some potential coaching options for the Bulls when the season starts in November. This week, we’ll be running through a look at some of the roster candidates for each position on the D-League roster.

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Point Guards

Tre Demps – Demps was part of the Bulls summer league team in Las Vegas this year. We did a quick profile on Demps for the Las Vegas games that you can check out here. The same things that got him to Vegas could get him to Hoffman Estates. He played for Northwestern, from which I will infer both proximity and familiarity for the Bulls. The one huge concern is that Demps played exactly zero minutes in the summer league. Like, zero. Demps played the same number of minutes in Vegas as I did. That isn’t to say that we are equal basketball players, not even close. However, it might give you some idea of how the Bulls feels about his potential if he couldn’t get on the court at any point in seven exhibition games.

Patrick Miller – Miller is another Las Vegas player for the Bulls. You can read our profile on him right here. Miller has a lot of experience compared to some other players, having played four years in college, like Demps, but has the added advantage of doing a turn in European basketball and also spending time with the Texas Legends. Like Demps, Miller also has a Chicago connection, he is from the Windy City. While the Bulls should be open to all options for the D-League roster, it might be easier to convince someone who is from town and has family in the area to take a chance on a reduced salary compared to what some of these players can earn overseas.

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He didn’t excite during his time in Vegas, but his numbers were much better than Demps, which sadly was extremely easy to do. He averaged just over 10 minutes per game, though his stat lines were still mostly empty. The only concerning portion of his stats are the shooting percentages. Miller shot 20 percent from 3-point range and 37.5 percent overall from the field. A point guard doesn’t always need to be a scorer, but it doesn’t help if a player can basically be left unguarded from outside 18 or 19 feet.

Spencer Dinwiddie – Dinwiddie is the third player on this list and, not coincidentally, is the third player that spent some time in Vegas this summer with the Bulls. Dinwiddie has been on a wild ride since his time with the Detroit Pistons ended and he was traded to Chicago for Cameron Bairstow. Shortly after that trade, the Bulls waived Dinwiddie, only to have him show up on their bench for the first game of the summer league. We profiled Dinwiddie for the Vegas squad right here. Like most of the other guys who suited of for Chicago in Las Vegas, Dinwiddie did not shoot particularly well. However, he did get 24.6 minutes per game and averaged 10.6 points, 3.7 rebounds and 2.4 assists. Dinwiddie will be in camp with the NBA Bulls, but if he doesn’t find a spot in the rotation, he could end up with Windy City.

Kirk Hinrich – I had to do it. Hinrich is still unsigned heading into his age 35 season.You know that the Bulls front office probably spends whatever hours of the day they aren’t golfing or high-fiving each other for signing both Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo in the same post-Apocalyptic offseason thinking of ways to bring this guy back.

If I’m throwing out theories, they put together this year’s Chicago team so that Hoiberg fails and they fire him. Why fire Hoiberg? Because they want Hinrich to be the head coach of the 2017-18 team. Okay, none of that is true. It would be great to see Hinrich playing the same role for the 2016-17 Windy City Bulls that Andre Miller was brought in to fill with the 2015-16 Minnesota Timberwolves. Imagine Hinrich trying to explain what it is like to be an accomplished veteran to zero-minute man, Tre Demps.

Jorge Gutierrez – Gutierrez can play. In fact, he has multiple season of professional basketball affiliation to prove it. I also write about the Charlotte Hornets for another website and got the chance to look at Gutierrez in a really limited role at the end of the 2015-16 season. During that time, he looked like a quality player that just didn’t have a spot because of all the talent ahead of him. Sure, he’s got plenty of work to do. However, Gutierrez is still unsigned by any NBA sides. He might be averse to signing with a D-League squad, but Windy City would be lucky to have him. It might just be what he needs to show what he is capable of doing in a larger role.

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