Chicago Bulls player reviews: Bobby Portis
2017 was the year Fred Hoiberg discovered Bobby Portis cannot play a small ball center role for the Chicago Bulls. A review on the second season of Portis in Chicago.
Bobby Portis was awful trying to defend the rim at the start of the season, often looking like a headless chicken on court, not knowing whether he should wall off the driving guard or box out the bigger center crowding him out in the paint.
In college, Portis played the Michael Jordan defensive role of “roamer” (a North Carolina term by Dean Smith for his box-and-one zone defense), which is a player assigned to be the double-teaming blitz player on the playmaker as part of the Arkansas’ own patented “40 Minutes of Hell” full-court press system.
Among the college teams that used this system in the 1980s and 1990s (Georgetown, UNLV, Kentucky, etc.), only Arkansas still adheres to the chase-you-out-of-the-gym defense.
When Portis gets into this mode as a help defender, the Bulls force turnovers against the opposing team and this may not be really apparent because Portis often gets scolded when he leaves his man to swarm, which is his natural game instinct.
We saw him do well in the 2016 Summer League playing power forward and dominating the rookies. But, we never saw him purposefully used to harass playmakers to engage a faster game that swings on defense. This really has to change next year in favor of Portis playing full-court pressure whenever it is good for disrupting opposing NBA offenses that can’t play against full-court pressure.
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Crazy Eyes Portis is a lockdown, full-court pressing big, that can allow Jimmy Butler and Dwyane Wade to get more interceptions for free scores for the Bulls moving forward.
He had big games in March and was a crucial offensive linchpin in Game 1 against the Boston Celtics in the playoffs. We saw the Bulls use Portis to pressure the playmaker only towards the end of Game 3 in glimpses when the game was already a foregone conclusion.
Not using Portis to pressure the ball wastes half his talent as a tall and long player that can apply pressure while he is still young and willing to be aggressive on defense. He does get his points by running the floor and hustling, as well as open mid-range jumpers and some low post mismatches. He’s almost unstoppable as a rim runner with a point guard like Rajon Rondo feeding him.
I personally hope Portis gets to start with Nikola Mirotic next year as the second power forward (not the shooting forward) on a stretch forward-heavy offense to make the Bulls score easier on transition off defensive pressure and on open mid-range opportunities if the Hoiberg movement traps allow either Portis or Mirotic to get their share of looks.
We can’t have a good look at the Bulls’ young players if Fred Hoiberg is not playing them minutes nor giving them shots. If the ball goes through Butler all the time, all the guys after him only get into rhythm as an afterthought.
But if the Bulls key in on their strengths — Bobby Portis as their two-way power forward to negate playmakers and score quick baskets off defense — they could weather next year’s best teams, which is better than just overburdening Butler with too much.
Next: Bulls player reviews: Denzel Valentine
I hope the coaching staff uses Portis more as a roaming defender, with Butler and Wade ready like sharks in the passing lanes for plenty of free points in every game.