Chicago Bulls: 3 players who regressed this season pre-hiatus

Lauri Markkanen, Chicago Bulls (Photo by Steven Ryan/Getty Images)
Lauri Markkanen, Chicago Bulls (Photo by Steven Ryan/Getty Images) /
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(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images)
(Photo by Jonathan Daniel/Getty Images) /

3. Otto Porter Jr., Small Forward

The former top three pick of the Washington Wizards in the 2013 NBA Draft, 6-foot-8 and 200 pound small forward Otto Porter Jr., didn’t have near the impact he was anticipated to have this season. A lot of that was due to the number of games he missed, more than half of the regular season so far, due to a foot injury.

But even when OPJ was healthy this season, he didn’t have the impact that he did for the Bulls in that nice run that so many in this fan base look back on from February 2019. The Bulls had a winning record that month, and OPJ averaged 17.6 points per game, 5.8 rebounds, and 2.6 assists to go along with a 62.6 true shooting percentage.

In just 14 games played so far this season, OPJ averaged 11.9 points per game, 3.4 rebounds, and 1.8 assists, while shooting 44.3 percent from the field, 38.7 percent from beyond the arc, and 70.4 percent from the charity stripe. His box plus/minus rating this season is down to 1.0, compared to 2.2 last year in his inaugural run with the Bulls.

Namely the overall impact that OPJ is having on games is pretty far down. His true shooting percentage with the Bulls in 15 games last season sat at 61. So far this season, his true shooting percentage sits at 55. Even looking at other advanced metrics like PIPM (down from 1.52 last year to 0.36 this season) and ESPN’s real plus/minus (down from 1.24 last year to -0.01 this season), show Porter Jr.’s regression this season.