Chicago Bulls: Breaking down the options at small forward

The Chicago Bulls will be without Zach LaVine to start the season, which means they’ll have to fill his position in the starting lineup. We break down the team’s options here.

As he continues to recover from an ACL tear, Zach LaVine isn’t expected to be available at the start of the season. So who should start for the Chicago Bulls at small forward until he returns?

First, here is the projected starting lineup when everyone is healthy:

PG: Kris Dunn
SG: Dwyane Wade
SF: Zach LaVine
PF: Nikola Mirotic (pending him re-signing)
C: Robin Lopez

Except that won’t be the lineup to start the season. LaVine won’t likely be available for the start of the regular season as he recovers from tearing his ACL in February. Chicago has several options to start in his place, though none as dynamic as LaVine. Fred Hoiberg will be challenged with digging up useful minutes out of someone on a game-to-game basis.

Looking further down the road, the Bulls could use the first part of the season as a tryout for a starting position in the event that the team buys out Dwyane Wade mid-season. In which case, a healthy LaVine could take over at shooting guard, freeing up a starting job at the 3.

Among Chicago’s options are newly-signed Justin Holiday, fan favorite and star of Zipsanity Paul Zipser, and sophomore Denzel Valentine. Here, we’ll go through and break down each player, and what they could bring to the table as a starter for the Bulls.