The point guard situation is still very much a situation
If you held a gun to Fred Hoiberg’s head and ask him to pick the team’s best point guard, he’d pick Jerian Grant. However, if you asked the fanbase to pick their one, they’d probably be inclined to pick the sophomore guard Kris Dunn.
Grant didn’t play a tremendous amount of basketball last night, only recording about 22 minutes of play in the win. While he was on the floor, he wasn’t terribly effective either. Grant finished with just 7 points on 1-of-6 shooting, but assisted on 6 baskets and grabbed 5 boards.
Averaging 28.1 minutes, 8.4 points, and 6.7 assists, while shooting 32.1-percent isn’t exactly world beating. Grant is an average point guard, as reflected in his, well, 0.0 value above replacement.
Since Kris Dunn’s left index finger healed, freeing him to rejoin the Bulls, the guard’s played an average of 25.3 minutes in each of his three games, While Dunn only averages 3.3 assists in that span, the ball just moves better when the guard is on the floor.
Here’s some of the Twitter base clambering for the young guard to become the team’s starter:
Kris Dunn ohhhhh my. Why isn’t he starting?
— Nick Friedell (@NickFriedell) November 2, 2017
Kris Dunn, welcome to the starting lineup…immediately
— Vincent Goodwill (@VinceGoodwill) November 2, 2017
Dunn’s plus play isn’t showing up in his offensive box plus/minus, which would better reflect is stellar performances. Dunn owns an ugly -7.4 in OBPM, a clear low among the Bulls’ regulars.
Contributing heavily to Dunn’s low metrics are his bad foul and turnover tendencies. Despite a middling number of minutes, Dunn averages 4.3 personal fouls per game (including 3 last night) and 4.3 turnovers per game (including 4 last night). In order succeed, Dunn has to get better in these categories.