Chicago Bulls vs. Charlotte Hornets: 3 Takeaways from Another Bulls Letdown
Mirotic & McDermott
Here’s the thing: Doug McDermott and Nikola Mirotic are both effective 3-point shooters in their own ways. Those ways are different though, and at the moment, it’s not clear that those differences are being taken into account.
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Take a look at this page. According to NBA.com, Doug is shooting 44.7 percent on catch-and-shoot field goals; a near-elite number. He’s only shooting 33.3 percent on pull-up shots though, which means he should probably take more catch-and-shoots and fewer pull-ups, right?
Then comes Mirotic.
He’s actually in the minority of players who shoot a higher percentage off the dribble than in a catch-and-shoot situation. Off the dribble, Niko is shooting 50 percent, but off of catch-and-shoots, he’s shooting only 27.3 percent.
So in an ideal world, McDermott would handle the catching and shooting and Mirotic would handle the pull-ups, right? Obviously it’s not that simple, but it kinda could almost be. The problem is that Mirotic took seven catch-and-shoot 3-pointers in Friday’s game, and he made one of them. Doug went 3-for-7 from 3 on Friday, but there were countless opportunities for him to get more shots up.
Doug sprinting off a screen, catching, and firing away immediately has the potential to be a deadly weapon for the Bulls. He should be getting 10 attempts up every night if possible.
Meanwhile, Will Gottlieb of the The Athletic Chicago has a plan to use Niko as more of a playmaking four and less of a shooting specialist.
The Bulls have a lot of little things that could all help them work towards consistency, and in that, more sustainable success.