Chicago Bulls Midseason Grades: Butler shines, Wade and Rondo shrug

Cristiano Felicio

Stats: 15.1 minutes, 4.5 points, 5.0 rebounds, 0.6 assists, 0.2 blocks, 55.7 FG%, 65.6 FT%

Grade: A-

In our first edition of “second round picks who are currently outperforming the first-rounders who were supposed to play ahead of them,” Cristiano Felicio is rapidly losing his hidden gem status. After overtaking Bobby Portis for the backup center job, Felicio is earning every minute and adding dollars to his offseason paycheck with every game.

The Bulls benefit hugely from the athleticism and rim-running that he brings, and the Wade-Felicio alley-oop is always a thing of beauty. On defense, Felicio makes the right decision more often than he doesn’t, and he should get even better as he gets more experience as a real member of the rotation.

Felicio is the best roll man on the team, and he has real gravity when he moves toward the basket, which means that defenses can’t trap the pick and roll, which means that Jimmy is getting whatever shot he wants. If Chicago can get him for the right price (and I’m doubtful they can), Felicio will be a nice piece for years to come.

Yes, there are also plenty of instances where Felicio misses a rotation on defense or looks a bit lost, and as far as he has come over two seasons, he has a long way yet to go.

But look at this:

We will discuss this no further.