Chicago Bulls: 3 players who must step up in absence of Otto Porter Jr.

3. Chandler Hutchison, Small Forward

The obvious choice here for the Chicago Bulls to come as close as they can to replacing the production of Porter Jr. is second-year small forward Chandler Hutchison. Since Porter Jr. originally injured his ankle, Boylen and the Bulls commonly rolled with Hutchison as the starter at the three spot.

In the six games that Hutchison played in so far this season, he started four of them. Those four starts were the absences for OPJ due to that lingering ankle problem. However, Hutchison brought mixed results for the Bulls since OPJ went down. He is posting a better player efficiency rating than he did during his rookie season (about a four point jump in the rating).

Moreover, Hutchison is averaging 8.5 points per game, 4.2 rebounds, and 1.0 assists, while shooting 47.1 from the field and 37.5 percent from three-point range. He’s also shooting roughly five percent better from the free-throw line.

But the advanced metrics, beyond player efficiency rating, aren’t liking Hutch a whole lot more than what he registered as a rookie. He has a -4.2 box plus/minus rating and a seven-point worse defensive rating than he had as a rookie. His box plus/minus rating from last season sat at -4.3. Not a whole lot of improvement in that department.

Just all-around more efficient production on both ends of the floor is necessary for Hutch to remain a core part of the rotation once OPJ returns healthy. He doesn’t have to fully breakthrough, but just play better off-ball.