Who is the best 3-point shooter in Chicago Bulls history?

The Chicago Bulls have had some talented deep shooters over the years, but who’s the best of all time? Let’s break it down.

For some teams, it’s easy to crown a 3-point shooting champion. The Celtics only have to decide between Ray Allen and Larry Bird. The Warriors and Pacers have easy kings in Stephen Curry and Reggie Miller. But for the Chicago Bulls, it’s a little tougher. Their most legendary players weren’t 3-point gunners.

Scottie Pippen and Michael Jordan made a hefty clip of threes in their careers, but that was thanks to their 12 and 13 seasons, respectively, spent with the team. Anyone who was a bona fide Bulls sniper didn’t spend much time with the team or chuck up that many attempts per game. It’s difficult to crown a champion here, but let’s consider a variety of factors and try to determine who the best 3-point shooter in Bulls history is.

Players up for consideration:

When trying to determine who the best 3-point shooter in Bulls history is, there are a lot of things that can be considered. Who’s the best tough-shot maker? Who had the best/longest 3-point shooting career? Who had the best 3-point shooting season? Who made the most total? Who scared/scares opposing defenses the most?

Part of the reason Steph Curry is such a fun shooter? He’s the answer to every single one of those questions above. He’s the most complete shooter in NBA history. But like I mentioned earlier, the Bulls don’t have that one complete guy. They have a bunch of guys that excelled at different aspects of shooting.

As far as shot difficulty goes, Zach LaVine is the guy that stands out. Nikola Mirotic and Ben Gordon were known to take some tough shots, but they pale in comparison to LaVine. He’s simply on another planet.

Proof that Zach LaVine has one of the best off-the-dribble pull-up jumpers in the game: pic.twitter.com/ofiyCzj5Tr
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) February 5, 2020

LaVine’s one of the best tough-three makers in the entire NBA, and he’s definitely the best in Bulls history.

But is LaVine the guy you’d want taking an open three off the catch? Probably not. That title belongs to one of four guys: Kyle Korver, B.J. Armstrong, Steve Kerr or Craig Hodges. These are the guys who had jaw-dropping efficiency throughout their run with the Bulls.

Armstrong and Hodges are two guys often forgotten about when fans remember Bulls snipers. Because of the era they played in and their roles on the team, they didn’t take a high volume of threes. Armstrong shot 1.3 per game for his career with the Bulls and Hodges shot 2.3. If they played today, they’d probably each take 5-6 per game, even in limited minutes.

The thing with Armstrong and Hodges, though, is that they rarely missed when they shot the ball. In 241 games with the Bulls, Hodges shot 42.5 percent from deep. His best season with the Bulls: 48.1 percent. In 518 games with the Bulls, Armstrong shot 43.7 percent from deep. His best season: 50 percent. Sheesh!

In spite of all of that, Korver and Kerr are the two most impressive efficiency guys in my eyes. Korver shot 42.5 percent from deep on 3.8 attempts per game for Chicago. That’s pretty good. But Kerr… Man oh, man. He shot 47.9 percent from deep over the course of his Bulls career. His best season: 52.4 percent. Similar to Armstrong and Hodges, Kerr didn’t take a whole lot of threes, but he’s one of the most efficient shooters in NBA history. There’s no question about it: If I had to pick a guy to shoot an open three for the Bulls, it would be Kerr 10 times out of 10.

Let’s move on to career shooting numbers.

Kirk Hinrich is the Bulls’ all-time leader in 3-pointers made with 1049, but he only shot 37.6 percent for his career. Don’t get me wrong — 37.6 percent isn’t bad at all, but it doesn’t exactly scream “sniper.”

Ben Gordon, on the other hand, combined career 3-point shooting totals and efficiency in an impressive way. He’s second all-time in Bulls’ 3-pointers made with 770 and made those at a nice 41.5 percent clip. That’s extraordinary, especially considering he was ahead of his time. If Gordon was in his prime today, he’d probably be putting up Zach LaVine numbers in terms of 3-point attempts per game, if not more. He was a chucker and did so in relatively efficient fashion. He just came along a few years too soon.

Judging careers is tough at this point, though. When it’s all said and done, Zach LaVine and Lauri Markkanen could easily be 1A and 1B in career 3-point makes. That would probably say more about the era they’re playing in than their overall shooting ability, but still — it matters.

Markkanen has only played in three seasons but has regressed in 3-point shooting over the course of those three seasons. While that’s disappointing, it almost makes it more impressive that despite his age and regression, he’s already ninth in Bulls career 3-point makes. If he has a solid 2020-21 season, he could make the leap from ninth to fourth, passing Luol Deng, Andres Nocioni, Steve Kerr, Nikola Mirotic and Michael Jordan — all before turning 24. That would be quite the feat.

Lauri Markkanen is a guy worth keeping your eye on going forward in terms of the best 3-point shooter in Bulls history, but for now, he just doesn’t have the career numbers to stack up against the rest of the field. The same can be said for Zach LaVine, even though he’s one of three players to ever make 13 threes in a single game.

The only two guys who can compete for the title of Best 3-point Shooter in Bulls History right now are Ben Gordon and Steve Kerr. They played in different eras and had different styles, but were both knock-down shooters. The answer to the question “Who’s the best 3-point shooter in Bulls history?” depends on your personal definition of “best.”

If you’re talking about who had the best 3-point shooting career in Bulls history, the answer has to be Ben Gordon. He’s the only guy who’s put up impressive career totals with steady efficiency to match.

But if you’re talking about who has/had the best shooting skill in Chicago Bulls history, the answer has to be Steve Kerr. His percentages speak for themselves.

For me, personally, I’m going to factor career numbers into my decision. With that being said, Ben Gordon is the best 3-point shooter in Chicago Bulls history.