If the Chicago Bulls wanted to find a solution at shooting guard by way of working with undrafted free agent signings, then mission accomplished so far. The Bulls have six pure shooting guards, two of which have the length to play at the wing in a small ball lineup, on a Summer League roster of 14 players in total.
Potentially the most intriguing and exciting is the sizable 6-foot-5 former St. John’s Red Storm guard Justin Simon. On film and in the workout room, Simon is a monster that looks to be deserving of a possible late first round pick. But the stats show Simon as a slightly below averaged college hoops player.
The biggest question is the translation of the skill set for Simon to the NBA. He didn’t have numbers worthy of even getting selected in the second round of the 2019 NBA Draft. The Bulls did work him out, along with a few other NBA teams, so he did have interest coming as a potential late-second round pick.
Going with Gafford was a much better route for the Bulls to proceed with instead of reaching on Simon. While Simon was a 47 percent career shooter from the field, he shot well below 30 percent from three-point range. His skill set doesn’t much benefit the modern NBA if he can’t develop his offensive arsenal and creating ability.