Chicago Bulls: Is Daniel Gafford this year’s Mitchell Robinson?
A valid side-by-side comparison for rookie Chicago Bulls big man Daniel Gafford is Mitchell Robinson’s rookie season with the New York Knicks.
A breakthrough rookie in the Eastern Conference that looks to be one of the best value picks from the 2019 NBA Draft is slotted right here in the frontcourt of the Chicago Bulls. Former Arkansas Razorbacks rookie big man Daniel Gafford was picked by the Bulls in the second round of the 2019 NBA Draft, and he’s surely turned out to be a stud so far.
More specifically, the Bulls picked Gafford at No. 38 overall. This was the first good value second round draft pick that John Paxson and Gar Forman made in a long while. The Bulls started a long-lasting trend of trading away their second round picks for next to nothing.
However, this was is panning out from what we can see so far. Gafford might be counted on even more at the midway point of the 2019-20 regular season than he’s been through about 35 games. With the sprained ankle that second-year Bulls starting center Wendell Carter Jr. suffered in the 118-110 road loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Jan. 6, Gafford might get a starting role soon.
Head coach Jim Boylen could either elect to move Gafford to the starting five role or do something like start power forward Lauri Markkanen at center and Thaddeus Young at the four. But Gafford is really the only other quality center that the Bulls have behind Carter Jr. on the depth chart.
The other two centers on the NBA roster this season for the Bulls includes Cristiano Felicio and the recent free agent signee Luke Kornet. At one point, it looked as if Kornet could be a solid under-the-radar free agency find for the Bulls. But that hope died out quickly this season.
There was never much hope for Felicio under his current overpaid $8 million contract.
However, if Gafford does continue his solid production as the starting five for the Bulls while Carter Jr. is out with an ankle injury, could he work his way into the Rookie of the Year race?
Probably not since we’re nearing the halfway point of the regular season.
But it does feel like Gafford is taking on a similar role with the Bulls like second-year big man Mitchell Robinson took on with the New York Knicks last season. Robinson was one of the best rookie centers in the NBA last season, and he’s continuing his development in his sophomore campaign.
Robinson is averaging 10.3 points per game, 7.0 rebounds, 0.5 assists, and 1.9 blocks so far this season. That is good for a player efficiency rating better than 24.0 and and a whopping 3.5 win shares. Robinson has more win shares this season than either Bulls shooting guard Zach LaVine or Markkanen.
During his rookie season, Robinson averaged 7.3 points per game, 6.4 rebounds, 0.6 assists, and 2.4 blocks. He turned into an elite shot blocker and rim protector right away. Robinson also essentially finished everything given to him around the rim on offense.
But compare this to the 4.6 points per game, 2.2 rebounds, 0.3 assists, and 1.3 blocks that Gafford is posting during his rookie season and you get some valid similarities. Gafford registered a very solid block rate of 10.5 percent so far this season and 10.6 percent rebounding rate.
Robinson did post a better rebounding rate last season, around 16 percent, but the block rate is about the same from his rookie year, at 10 percent.
Gafford and Robinson also share the similarity of defensive prowess and absolute power on offense in the frontcourt. The offensive rebounding rate for Gafford sits around 10 percent, and Robinson’s sits at around 13 percent from his rookie season.
Keep up the early impact ability that Gafford is showing during his rookie season after being a second round draft pick, and he’ll continue to command respect as a legit NBA big man. There are valid comparisons between the numbers he’s posting during his rookie campaign alongside that of Robinson with the Knicks.
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Since Gafford was fairly refined heading into his rookie season, it will be interesting to see where the path of his development goes. Robinson was a much more raw prospect as a former Western Kentucky Hilltoppers big man going in the second round (No. 36 overall) to the Knicks in the 2018 NBA Draft.