Chicago Bulls: Offseason moves push 2020 Markkanen All-Star bid

Perhaps aided by the additions made by the Chicago Bulls this offseason, Markkanen finds himself with better teammates that can help him improve.

Two seasons into Lauri Markkanen’s NBA career, it became apparent that the Chicago Bulls needed to find pieces to allow their budding star to thrive in the offseason. Now, entering his third season of action, Markkanen has a supporting cast that’ll allow him a lot more flexibility across the board. Aided by healthy additions of NBA talent, it’s looking like an exciting roster in Chicago.

Last season was a step forward for the sevent-footer, but the new focus from the front office will give him the supporting cast he’s simply not had through his first two seasons. Posting 18.7 points, 9 rebounds, and shooting 36.1 percent from three, Markkanen might become a double-double machine, but with three-point tenacity players of his size simply don’t typically carry.

Across the board, it’s key to look at these additions and take a hard look at how much each move helps the team maximize the Finnisher.

If there was one area the Bulls had to improve this offseason, it was ball-movement. For a short stint at the end of February, last season’s Bulls found a great offensive attack when Zach LaVine, Otto Porter Jr., and Markkanen had the ball flying around the court; not just to the rim, either, as the team opened up the passing lanes in a way that reminded of the Golden State Warriors.

Key to the Bulls’ ball movement this season are their pair of newly acquired guards. In the backcourt, the team found a pair of potential starting point guards, Tomas Satoransky in free agency, but more importantly Coby White with the seventh-overall selection in the 2019 NBA Draft.

Granted, in college, White wasn’t featured as a distributive guard, but flashes as a wonderfully clever shot creator. Markkanen will be greatly affected by White’s ability to draw traffic into the middle of the floor, drawing defenders away from the sharp-shooting big man from three.

In Summer League, White drew a ton of off-ball defenders in, and while his summer teammates weren’t tremendously opportunistic, it should make Bulls fans antsy for his pairing with Markkanen.

The addition of Satoransky will also be a great change of pace from Kris Dunn for Markkaken. Satoransky is an unselfish player, only committed 1.1 turnovers per game last season with a 14.1 percent usage rate, while still controlling the court on defense. At 6-foot-7, big guards like Satoransky who don’t need the ball in their hands command bigger defenders are hot commodities in this league. His addition will prove invaluable to a team who needs to space the floor next season.

Dunn holds the ball a little too much for this team; it might work somewhere else, but that’s not a fit for this team’s tastiest recipe. Most of the time, the resigned Ryan Arcidiacono was a better on-floor solution than Dunn, just because he’s willing to keep the ball moving.

Creating a more intimidating group in the frontcourt, the Bulls signings of Thaddeus Young and Luke Kornet are a step up from reliance on Robin Lopez and Cristiano Felicio. While the team will miss Lopez’s insane box-out skills, they’ll be aided by some new, high-effort rebounders.

Young’s arrival in Chicago gives the Bulls the best bench option of Markkanen’s two-year career, a seven-year NBA veteran who plays really good basketball on both ends. While he’s not really elite in any area, Young is a hard worker who’s energy is infectious and hard work on the glass will give the Bulls a lot more second-chance opportunities next season.

For Markkanen, that’ll guarantee more open looks from three, as taller defenders will have abandoned to crash the glass.

While Kornet might be less of a name than Young, he’s a 7-foot-1 center who connects from three, not unlike Markkanen; Kornet attempted 4.2 threes per game and shot 36.3 percent from deep last season. While he’s less of a fit with Markkanen on the floor, he’s a much better rotational option. However, when Markkanen and Kornet share the court, they’re going to be a match-up nightmare.

Additionally, the drafting of Daniel Gafford looks like a win after a really impressive Summer League performance. While he’s not a polished talent like Wendell Carter Jr., the rim-runner showed defensive prowess and offensive explosivity in Las Vegas. He’s a total change-of-pace from Markkanen, but if they’re sharing the court, that’s to both of their benefits.

Markkanen will have more space on the arc, while Gafford can act as a can’t-ignore brick of TNT inside. Drawing taller defenders on the wing, Markkanen could allow Gafford to have a lot of easy touches in the paint.

Heading into next season, the Bulls have given Markkanen a fairly good group of players to push him into the All-Star level he’s fully capable of achieving. He might’ve had a healthy case to be on that team last year if a late-camp elbow injury didn’t hold him out for the first few months of the season. With a healthy Markkanen, the Bulls could become one of the most exciting young clubs in the league. Health, however, is a tricky hurdle in itself.