Chicago Bulls: Why Chandler Hutchison is a key piece to the puzzle

The Chicago Bulls season began with lot of talk as to who would be the backup small forward to Otto Porter. Denzel Valentine has not seen the floor much and Chandler Hutchison suddenly finds himself with an opportunity to grab major minutes.

The Chicago Bulls acquired small forward Otto Porter Jr. in a mid-season trade last year with the Washington Wizards. His annual contract of roughly $28 million seemed well worth it considering he was the type of player the Bulls claim to have wanted to sign in free agency. Essentially he was their first free agent signing of the 2019 off-season.

After Porter joined the team, everything looked rosy. The Bulls went on to win six of their next nine games. Gar Forman was actually being praised for finding the missing piece. The offense was finally flowing and we had a legitimate small forward.

Then reality hit. Along the way though something may have gone wrong. Porter missed 13 of the remaining 19 games. Coupled with the 12 games he was listed as inactive while still with the Wizards, Porter missed 25 games last season due to injury.

Despite knowing Porter’s injury history, the Bulls did not draft or sign another player to fill in should he go down again. That left Denzel Valentine and Chandler Hutchison to compete for that reserve role.

Of course, Tomas Satoransky at 6-foot-7 could slide into that spot, but his signing was with the goal of landing a point guard to efficiently control the ball and distribute it to shooters like Porter.

Then last night it happened. Porter left the game with a left foot contusion and is listed as day-to-day.

But that’s not all. On the season, Porter has been perhaps the biggest disappointment in the starting lineup. Against the Lakers on Tuesday night he had one rebound in 27:15 minutes.

For the season, Porter is averaging per game 11.2 points, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.6 assists while shooting 41.7 percent from the field. His 2.2 free throw attempts reflect how little he has the ball on the move or while cutting to the hoop.

In short, he is having his worst statistical year since 2014-15. That is not good news to management and surely they must be concerned.

With Denzel Valentine still not back to his old self (now assigned to the G-League) due to a serious unstable left ankle injury, the next man up happens to be the Bulls 22nd pick in the 2018 NBA Draft, Chandler Hutchison out of Boise State.

While Hutchison’s career stats over 44 games are not very impressive, there are a couple of things to note about his game that at this stage of the young season may prove valuable.

1. He gets rebounds. For his career, he averages 7.4 rebounds per 36 minutes. For a Bulls team that has lost the battle of the boards in all but two games, more bodies willing to bang underneath are a welcome sight. Hutchison adds toughness that Otto has lacked.
2. He gets fouls. A player that can draw fouls is a double benefit in the NBA. He causes opponents to get in foul trouble and he gets shots at the free-throw line. Last night Hutch shot five of seven from the stripe. Another welcome sight.

Hutchison may not be the smoothest of players, as evidenced by his missed open dunk last night, but he has a lot of upside. It was only last year that we were all comparing him to a young Scottie Pippen.

With Porter’s unpredictability and Denzel’s physical limitations, C-Hutch has a chance to play 15-20 minutes a night and grow into a solid small forward who can also play power forward in a small lineup.

It’s good to see him out there.