1. Thaddeus Young, Forward
No single Bulls player should have a bigger gripe with the previous front office regime and the coaching staff than the former Indiana Pacers veteran forward Thaddeus Young. This 6-foot-8 and 220 pound former Georgia Tech Yellow Jacket was likely promised a role with the Bulls that didn’t turn into anything close to how this season went for Thad so far.
It seemed like the former vice president of basketball operations John Paxson and former general manager Gar Forman made three solid free agent signings between Young, combo guard Tomas Satoransky, and center Luke Kornet. But spotty results from Young and Sato and just a failed signing in Kornet proved that this free agent haul wasn’t as good as advertised.
If Young was able to fit into that veteran role that didn’t clash with Markkanen quite so much, he would be contributing a lot more value. Instead Boylen and the Bulls management looked to view Young as a backup small or power forward that could come in and essentially fill a similar role to what P.J. Tucker does with the Houston Rockets. A player like Young is a lot different in terms of skill set than Tucker, but their stat lines look awful similar this season.
Young’s true shooting percentage (just 52.1) is down to the third worst mark of his career, and his box plus/minus rating (-1.1) is the second worst of his career. When Young is used to work from the inside-out, he tends to be at his best. Instead, Boylen used him completely different than how Young was used successfully in the past with the likes of the Pacers and Philadelphia 76ers.