Chicago Bulls: 3 most improved players near the 50-game mark

3. Denzel Valentine, Shooting Guard

Maybe the player that showed out the best for Boylen and the Chicago Bulls this season in the last two or three-dozen games is 6-foot-4 shooting guard Denzel Valentine. The 24-year-old former Michigan State Spartans star is playing well off the bench whenever Boylen actually gives him the chance. It took a number of injuries for Boylen to get him back into the rotation of late.

Valentine is averaging 5.9 points per game, 1.8 rebounds, and 1.1 assists while shooting 42.6 percent from the field and nearly 40 percent from three-point land. He also has a player efficiency rating improving at the moment, around 14.9, and is drawing close to one full win share. The difficulty is high for Valentine to improve on his advanced metrics with such a limited role and dwindled playing time.

Yet, Valentine is posting career bests in both offensive and defensive rating (106 each). He’s also working on a career-best in win shares per 48 minutes, with .096. Valentine is one of the very best on the Bulls in assist rate (above 15 percent) and win shares per 48 minutes this season. Player efficiency rating and true shooting percentage (55.5) are also sitting at career bests for Valentine right now.

The usage rate for Valentine is high when he’s actually on the floor, but needs to happen more often if John Paxson and Gar Forman decide not to trade him at the deadline next month. He serves a lot of value off the bench as he is one of the few offensive creators that the Bulls have beyond LaVine and rookie point guard Coby White.