Chicago Bulls: Who would win in King of the Court?

The Chicago Bulls are starting to collect a nice pool of young talent. If they squared off in a game of King of the Court, who would win?

The Chicago Bulls have spent the last couple years forming a nice collection of young talent. All of that talent is finally starting to materialize into on the court production. Now that we have a decent idea of what each player on the roster can do, let’s play a fun game.

“King of the Court” is a make it, take it, one-on-one style basketball game. The rules are simple. The offensive player gets a maximum of three dribbles before having to shoot the ball. If the defender gets a stop, he/she moves to offense and the offensive player moves to defense.

There’s one important caveat, though. Every shot is worth one point. There’s no bonus for players who can shoot from 3-point territory.

So which Bulls’ player would be the best at this game? Said player has to be able to get a stop and score with three dribbles or less. Let’s get into it.

Kris Dunn is a unique guy for this style of game. He’s an incredible on-ball defender and would be one of the toughest Bulls players to score on with a maximum of three dribbles. Dunn’s limitations come on the offensive end. He can score in the mid-range and he’s decent at getting to the basket, but eventually, he’d run out of moves, ultimately becoming too predictable. For that reason, he’s out.

Another defensive menace is Wendell Carter Jr. For a 6’10” guy, he can move his feet incredibly well. His lateral quickness combined with his length would make him absurdly difficult to score on with only three dribbles. Like Dunn, though, his limitations come on the offensive end. He has some really good post moves, but he’s not a consistent enough scorer (yet) to beat guys in one-on-one situations over and over again. He’s out.

Lauri Markkanen is the guy that starts to make things interesting. He’s not that quick, but he’s ridiculously skilled. His ability to shoot with a hand in his face, dribble around guys and back down smaller defenders make him virtually impossible to guard in this setting. His drag-step floater is becoming a signature move of his. Combine this move with all of his back-to-the-basket options and he’s a nightmare. Let’s keep him around for a little while.

Zach LaVine is probably the most intuitive choice for deciding which Bull would be the best at King of the Court. He’s by far the quickest and most explosive guy on the team, and his ability to stop on a dime and get into his jumper is really tough to defend. Unlike Dunn and Carter, LaVine’s limitations come on the defensive end.

LaVine’s problems on the defensive end of the court are well-known to Bulls fans. It can be quite frustrating to see someone as athletic as LaVine struggle to keep opposing players off the scoreboard. A lot of times, though, LaVine’s defensive problems can be chalked up to a lack of focus. In a simple game of King of the Court, that likely wouldn’t happen. Still, though, he’ll have problems keeping bigger guys like Markkanen and Carter out of the paint. Let’s keep LaVine in the running for now.

Last but not least, let’s look at Otto Porter Jr.

Otto’s biggest strength in King of the Court would be his mid-range jumper. He’s absolutely electric in the mid-range, and his high release would allow him to get his shot off over stifling defense. Unfortunately for Porter, he’s not the best at getting to the basket. With only three dribbles to work with, I can’t picture him getting to the rim very often. Otto’s out.

Markkanen vs. LaVine

We’re down to our final two guys: Zach LaVine and Lauri Markkanen.

One guy is a 6’5″ athletic freak and the other guy is a 7-footer with unique offensive skills. Who wins?

Markkanen’s biggest struggle would be stopping LaVine on the drive. LaVine’s quickness and explosiveness would likely result in a lot of aggressive attacks on the rim. The question is: Would LaVine be able to stop Markkanen?

There’s not much evidence from this season that makes me think LaVine could stop Lauri even one time. Zach would have to rely on Markkanen missing a lot of quality looks from the mid-range, which I don’t see happening.

Markkanen would be a force on the offensive end, and on the defensive end, his length might be able to make up for some of LaVine’s quickness.

Unless we can somehow get a glimpse inside a Bulls practice when they’re playing King of the Court (if they even play it at all), we’ll probably never know which Bull would be the best. But from what we know, it seems like “The Finnisher” would be the favorite.