Point Guard: Kris Dunn, 2017-18
At least since the 1983-84 season, Chicago Bulls point guard Kris Dunn had one of the worst campaigns in the franchise’s history in his inaugural shot in the Windy City. Dunn didn’t get off to a good start after just one season in the NBA, with the Minnesota Timberwolves.
The Timberwolves used their fifth overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft to take a flier out on the former Providence Friars 6-foot-4 defensive standout point guard Dunn. But Dunn definitely didn’t pan out right away for the Timberwolves, and the Bulls would have to wait a while to see their patience pay off with him too.
The Bulls landed Dunn from the Timberwolves in that infamous 2017 offseason trade that saw them send small forward Jimmy Butler to Minnesota. They also got a return of shooting guard Zach LaVine and power forward Lauri Markkanen.
However, Dunn thankfully got his worst season with the Bulls thus far out of the way in his first year with the team. Dunn was injured for much of the 2017-18 season (where the Bulls won just 27 games), but he wasn’t efficient when he was healthy. He played in 52 games, starting 43 of them. In those 52 games, he averaged 13.4 points per game, 6.0 assists, 4.3 rebounds, and 2.0 steals, while shooting 42.9 percent from the field and 32.1 percent from beyond the arc.
While the per game stats don’t look all to shabby from Dunn, the main problem from his 2017-18 campaign in a Bulls uniform was the turnovers. He was also taking too many three-point attempts. Although 32.1 percent shooting from three-point land isn’t the worst, it doesn’t qualify a player to take 2.6 attempts per game from downtown.
A turnover rate of 17.3 percent, box plus/minus rating of -1.3, and just .027 win shares per 48 minutes made for a rough start to Dunn’s tenure in the Windy City. At least he did improve in the season that was in a newfound role under Boylen.