Grading the Chicago Bulls through the 30 games
By Luke Askew
The Chicago Bulls are currently in the midst of one of the most unexpected winning streaks the NBA has ever seen. Who would have thought the same team that started 3-20 would piece together an incredible seven game winning streak?
Here are my team grades for the Bulls through 30 games.
Overall team grade: B
Previous grade: D-
This is one of the most “Bulls” things ever – just when the team was looking as bad as any NBA team in history and sure to lock up a top-three pick in next years draft, the Bulls decided to shock the entire basketball world simply by doing what they failed to do for the first 23 games of the season – play good basketball.
This winning streak included wins over quality teams like the Celtics, Bucks and 76ers, as well as wins over bad teams such as the Orlando Magic.
What has been the best part of this winning streak? In my opinion, it has been the outstanding play of second-year point guard, Kris Dunn.
During the winning streak, Kris Dunn is averaging 16.6 ppg, 7.6 apg, and 4.7 rpg. That’s phenomenal considering his rookie year production. If Dunn keeps this up, he’ll be one heck of an NBA point guard.
The downside to Dunn’s game? His 3-point shooting.
Dunn is shooting 13 percent from the 3-point line. Yikes. It’s hard to tell where he is exactly with his 3-point shot due to the low number of attempts. During the seven game winning streak, Dunn has only shot 15 total 3-pointers. Although there’s usually a reason for a player not shooting more.
The shooting will continue to get better. Kris Dunn is young and has plenty of time to improve, so if he can keep up with this level of production despite the absence of an effective 3-point shot, his future is bright.
So what else is working for the Bulls?
I guess you could say that Mirotic guy is playing… eh… alright?
Nikola Mirotic is averaging 19.6 points and 7.7 rebounds per game. He is also shooting an incredible 52 percent from the field (49 percent from 3-point range).
Niko’s play has been nothing short of awesome. What does that mean for his future with the Bulls? I guess that’s a little foggy – but he sure helps the team win.
Tanking grade: D+
Previous grade: A+
When I decided to write about the Bulls overall team grade and the tanking grade every ten games this season, I certainly did not expect the tanking grade to be this low. But that all comes with the territory of being a Bulls fan – we can’t even tank right.
The tank was going so well. The Bulls were 3-20 through their first 23 games and were showing obvious signs of being the worst team in the league. But then came Nikola Mirotic.
This seven game winning streak means the Bulls are 7-0 when Nikola Mirotic plays. Does this mean he has locked up a spot for the future? I mean… not exactly.
Is winning games something the Bulls really want to do right now?
If the Bulls front office genuinely thinks that Nikola Mirotic can help them win games in the future, then I expect him to remain a part of the team. However, if the Bulls front office feels as though a guy like Mirotic won’t help them in the long run, then I expect them to trade him away with the goal of resuming the tank.
In my opinion, the Bulls need to part ways with the 26 year-old power forward. He’s a good player, and that’s the problem.
Niko isn’t good enough to build the team around, but he’s good enough to mess up getting a top three draft pick, and boy would that be disappointing.
This year is the Bulls’ best chance of getting a franchise player to build around for years to come. With three extremely talented players likely to enter the draft (Bagley, Porter, and Doncic), the Bulls can’t afford to mess this up.
Can you imagine how many wins the Bulls will get when they add Zach LaVine to this current roster? My presumption is it’ll be enough to make the Bulls fall out of the bottom three teams in the league, but not enough to make an actual difference in standings.
To put it lightly, this hasn’t been a good stretch for the tank. Ugh.