Small forward: Otto Porter Jr.
What he’s done well
What’s going well for the Chicago Bulls so far this season is the rebounding numbers when they have small forward Otto Porter Jr. and Hutchison healthy. But the Bulls just have too many guards on the floor, and their battle on the glass suffers when Boylen is running a three-guard lineup.
Hutchison and Porter Jr. have both played in just nine full games each. But Porter Jr. is going to be one of the key cogs to the Bulls starting five once he’s able to return from this lingering foot injury. He shot better than 40 percent from three-point range and was turning the ball over at a rate of around seven percent when he was healthy.
How to use him different
The Bulls do need to utilize Porter Jr. on the pick-and-roll more often whenever he comes back from this foot injury. He also needs to take a more active role on defense. A 109 defensive rating isn’t as good as Porter Jr. could be. And definitely get him more than five looks from three-point range per game.
Backup small forward: Chandler Hutchison (Thaddeus Young while OPJ is injured)
If Hutchison is healthy and productive, then he should be the set in stone backup to Porter Jr. But whenever both Hutchison and Porter Jr. are out of the lineup, then Young should be the starting three for the Bulls. He’s proved in the past that he can play at the three, and he needs to be getting more minutes per game than he is now (21.5). That’s the fewest minutes per game for Young since his rookie season.