2. Poor fit with Lauri Markkanen
There is a lot of truth to the statement that the Bulls couldn’t make it work with Markkanen and Young on the same roster. If the Bulls are planning on building this franchise around any significant portion of the young core in place right now, then they will have to choose sometime before next season whether they want Markkane or Young in the mix over the long haul.
Running Young at the three works fine if you have more traditional big men that can draw off other better perimeter defenders, but Markkanen wasn’t a good fit with him. Young thrived with traditional big men if he played in a small ball lineup at the four or at the three in the past, but Markkanen isn’t a traditional big.
In the two-man combination numbers with Markkanen and Young on the floor together, his efficiency went down almost across the board. He shot much worse from the field, three-point range, and hauled in almost five rebounds less per 100 possessions. Young was also caught fouling more often to try and cover for Markkanen’s mistakes.
And one of the worst four-man combinations that Young played in with the Bulls this season came alongside Markkanen, LaVine, and combo guard Tomas Satoransky. Young’s effective field goal percentage dropped by about five points, and his assist and block numbers went way down while his turnovers rose.