Chicago Bulls: 3 players who must step up with Kris Dunn out for season

3. Shaquille Harrison, Combo Guard

A player that has yet to really step up to the plate for the Chicago Bulls this season 6-foot-4 26-year-old combo guard Shaquille Harrison. About the only player down the stretch with head coach Jim Boylen that was able to win a roster spot last offseason was Harrison. He showed his true defensive stopper potential when the Bulls had a bad roster around him last year.

So far this season, Harrison is averaging 3.4 points per game, 1.4 rebounds, and 0.9 assists, while shooting 44.1 percent from the field and 33.3 percent from beyond the arc. The 16.4 player efficiency rating and 0.6 win shares Harrison registered this season inspires some level of confidence that he could thrive in a bigger role.

Since the Bulls are going to need another situational defensive stopper at guard to step up to the plate in the midst of the season-ending Dunn injury, Harrison is likely the obvious player to pop in most fan’s minds. Harrison has a career-best defensive box plus/minus rating of 1.6 and a defensive rating of 105. He’s also tying his career-best steal rate at 3.2 percent.

Harrison even has a solid block rate of 2.6 percent. His advanced stats are actually showing what he can do when put into a positive situation with the Bulls this season. It’s just unfortunate that Boylen is the one determining the rotations and sets that he’s put into.

Maybe Boylen will realize the underrated situational potential of Harrison and put him into a more beneficial role moving forward.

Most Bulls fans won’t like giving additional minutes to Harrison, but he does offer a lot of value in limited spots.