2. Who takes the last shot?
There are guys on this team that’ll be around when the Bulls start contending. They’ll learn to win together. They’ll learn to lose together. It’s an important phase for a rebuild to undertake.
As for now, it’s hard to imagine the Bulls winning many games in blow-out fashion. Wins will come down to final possessions and last shots with some regularity. Good teams find comfort in their go-to guy in late game situations.
More from Bulls News
- The dream starting 5 for the Chicago Bulls 5 years from now
- Bulls’ Ayo Dosunmu inspires the future with new school program
- Chicago Bulls NBA 2K24 full roster ratings, risers, and fallers
- Bulls sign a pair of promising guards to Exhibit 10 contracts
- When does NBA Training Camp start? Dates Bulls fans need to know
The only member of this Bulls’ team I’d really trust with the ball in his hands late in a game would have to be Robin Lopez. So, by that logic, you’re screwed if you need a 3.
It might be a little while before we hear from Zach LaVine, but for now, is Nikola Mirotic who you want hitting your 3-pointer at the buzzer? If I’m calling the shots, I’d trend towards the ‘no’ button.
Can Mirotic hit the 3? Yep, that’s why the Bulls inked him to a $27 million deal. Would a head coach trust him with the game on the line? I doubt it.
As for the rest of ’em? Yeah, I don’t know if Jerian Grant, Kris Dunn, Justin Holiday, etc., are the guys I want in the closing seconds of a game, but hey, I don’t make the roster. If it were up to me, Antonio Blakeney starts 82 games this season. Again, I don’t have a say and I have nothing to lose.
Maybe we’ll learn something from the last two first-round picks. 2016’s No. 14 pick Denzel Valentine needs to take a step forward as a whole, while 2017’s No. 7 pick Lauri Markkanen looked like the real deal during EuroBasket.
I’m not opposed to seeing Markkanen take big shots as the season progresses. He’ll have to learn how to do it at some point anyway.