10. Denzel Valentine, Shooting Guard
Hutchison and the former Michigan State Spartans shooting guard and 2016 draft lottery pick Denzel Valentine are largely in the same boat right now with the Chicago Bulls. Valentine is a proven three-point shooter, but he’s showing plenty of rust coming off a stint where he missed the entire 2018-19 regular season thanks to a nagging ankle injury.
While it appears that Valentine is healthier this season than he was during the previous two, that could all change in the blink of an eye. The track record for Valentine in terms of lower-body injuries isn’t too great.
Could it be that Boylen and the Bulls coaching staff are trying to inch Valentine back into the mix while he looked so rusty during the preseason and in Training Camp?
So far this season, Valentine only got five minutes of playing time in one game. He hit one of his four field goal attempts in that one game. But that game also saw him hit on one of his two attempts from beyond the arc. The three-point shooting ability of Valentine could be his most intriguing factor at this point.
Valentine is a career 37.5 percent shooter from range. Catch-and-shoot is the name of the game for Valentine. But if he is to add to the wing depth for the Bulls this season, he’ll have to round out his game on both ends of the floor more so than he’s showed in the last three seasons. The defensive prowess of Valentine tends to be lacking regularly.
But the value that Valentine brings as a reliable outside shooter and solid floor spacer off the bench is appealing with a good portion of the other 29 teams.