Chicago Bulls: Predicting players production this season, Pt. 1

It’s been a while since we’ve seen Denzel Valentine, but he’s a solid role player. He doesn’t do anything to flashy or elite, he’s just a versatile guard/forward. Since it’s been a full year since he’s last played, his production could be anywhere from terrible to solid.

However, I did recently say in a previous post that I do believe that Valentine will ultimately be traded this season. He’s on the last year of his contract and they need his minutes to develop the other young guys on the team.

That being said though, you gotta play him to get the most value out of him. That’s why I think that he’ll be getting significant minutes off the bench.

Even if he isn’t traded, he can provide offensive versatility, handling the ball and starting plays, as well as playing off the ball as his three point shooting is around average. With him becoming an upcoming restricted free agent, the first three months of the season are important for the Bulls organization to decide whether Valentine will be a part of the Bulls future.

If he can show an improvement in his three point shooting as well as his efficiency, depending on his asking price, it may be worth considering to keep him long term.

Like I said in the last post though, I think that if he shows the same production as he did two years ago, he’d be a good piece to package with Kris Dunn to get a better trade package and acquire more draft capital.

My Prediction on Valentine’s Statline: 8.7 points , 2.6 rebounds and 3.3 assists on 43% shooting and 35.6% shooting from the 3 in 19-23 minutes a game (30 games played for Bulls)