Through three games at EuroBasket 2017, Chicago Bulls rookie Lauri Markkanen has shown not only does he have some potential at the NBA level, he’s been his country’s best player in the group stage.
In three games for his native Finland, Chicago Bulls rookie Lauri Markkanen has been not only the best player for his country, but he’s been one of the best players in the entire EuroBasket 2017 tournament.
Through three games against France, Slovenia and Poland, Markkanen is Finland’s leader in efficiency per game (24.7), points per game (24.3), rebounds per game (7.7), and is shooting over 56 percent from the field on 16 shots per contest. It’s no surprise that Finland’s plus-minus leader at +11.3 is Markkanen.
The 20-year-old rookie hasn’t been perfect through three games. He’s had some troubles establishing post position against some older and stronger players. Markkanen’s 2.7 turnovers per game are the second-worst on the entire Finland roster, and that includes a back-breaking turnover against Slovenia with the ball in his hands and Finland down just one in the final seconds.
But, the important thing for Markkanen is that the good certainly outweighs the bad heading into his fourth game of EuroBasket 2017 on Tuesday against the Giannis Antetokounmpo-less Greece squad.
Markkanen is making an impact on both ends of the floor for Finland
His shooting numbers look outstanding, but Markkanen has shown some positive things on the defensive side of matters, too.
Take this sequence late in the game with Finland down three points against future high 2018 draft pick Luka Doncic, current Miami heat guard Goran Dragic and Team Slovenia this past weekend.
Off the BLOB (Baseline Out Of Bounds) set for Slovenia, Dragic gets the pass from Doncic, but as he looks to try and score, Markkanen and his length are right there to bump him and force him to take a bad fallaway shot that doesn’t even him the rim.
Finland gets the rebound and sets up in a HORNS set in the half-court. The good thing is that you see Markkanen basically initiating the offense to move with his communication from the left elbow on the floor. He goes to set a pindown screen, gets the ball isolated against former Chicago Bulls legend Anthony Randolph, drives left, creates the separation with his body and hits a NBA-like jumper falling away to trim the lead to one.
This possession much earlier in the game was one that stood out also. Much of the criticism that came with Markkanen’s stock in this year’s draft, other than the fact that the Bulls took yet another power forward, was that he wasn’t a viable defender and struggled throughout his lone season in Tuscon with Arizona.
Believe it or not, the kid isn’t as slow as you think he’d be. Markkanen held his own against Randolph with Dragic looking to pass out of a hedged pick-and-roll. Randolph got isolated on the left wing with Markkanen, but the 20-year-old moved his feet well laterally to his left to force Randolph into a turnover.
He also had a block from behind on
his future teammate
Doncic at one point, but Doncic made a fantastic play to keep the possession alive for Slovenia.
Markkanen truly is magic in crunch time
After a big-time performance down the stretch in Finland’s opener against France in overtime, the announcing booth was calling the rookie “Magic Markkanen”.
Down the stretch of all three games in this tournament so far, Markkanen has truly been magnificent when the Finns have needed it most.
With the Finns up two in overtime against France in the opening game, Markkanen hit a huge 3 to put his team up five with just 75 seconds to play.
He had the turnover in the final seconds, along with twisting his ankle on the final possesion of regulation, but Finland wouldn’t have been in crunch time against Slovenia without him. This was an NBA play by Markkanen to give the Finns a one-point lead with just 38.1 left in the game.
Markkanen popped out on the perimeter, showed a good ball fake and drove middle down the lane to convert a beautiful layup with his left hand throughout the contact. That’s being aggressive and not settling for a contested jumper from deep.
The Finns were down two on Sunday to Poland and you can probably guess who came up with the huge steal of an inbound pass and dribbled the length of the floor for the dunk to tie the game and force overtime.
Against France, Markkanen showed some serious struggles when he posted up against the French, but that wasn’t the case when he had a big mismatch in the final seconds of overtime against Poland on Sunday. Markkanen tied the game at 78 with a Dirk Nowitzki-esque fader from the right block.
It’s almost as if Markkanen was expecting a double team with that hint of hesitation on the shot, but he put himself where he was comfortable on the floor against the smaller defender and drilled a huge jumper.
I personally loved these next two plays from Markkanen to close out the Polish in double overtime on Sunday. The first one was just after double OT started.
Markkanen looked to post up against on the right side of the floor and got bumped a little further out than he wanted to be off the switch from the screen up top. You could just sense a bit of frustration from Markkanen with the contact, but what happened next was fantastic. Markkanen does get away with a bit of a push to create some separation, but as the double team comes this time, he fakes, steps through the double and hits a nice floater for the bucket.
The second play was a rebound off a free throw miss for Finland with the Finns up 87-84 in the final seconds of the second overtime period. Markkanen came up big with the offensive rebound, then stroked two clutch free throws to give the Finnish a five-point lead that they wouldn’t surrender.
It’s not a pretty play like some of the others from Markkanen, but it was one of the most important for his team.
There’s plenty of questions surrounding the Bulls right now heading into training camp later this month. What’s Dwyane Wade going to do with his potential buyout situation? Are the Bulls going to bring Nikola Mirotic back on a new deal? Who’s going to win the point guard battle between Kris Dunn and Jerian Grant?
Thankfully for the sanity of the fan base, the Bulls might just have an answer to one of their big questions and that’s yes, Lauri Markkanen just might be an NBA player and a good one at that.