The Chicago Bulls might bring back a similar looking roster next season, and there needs to be a lot of improvement from certain guards this offseason.
What put the Chicago Bulls in an increasingly difficult spot in the season that was for them, prior to the novel coronavirus pandemic-induced hiatus, was the inconsistent play of their three major free agent signings. Getting up and down play from former Indiana Pacers forward Thaddeus Young, former New York Knicks center Luke Kornet, and former Washington Wizards guard Tomas Satoransky, for much of the season hurt the team quite a bit.
The play of the latter of those three Bulls free agent signings, Satoransky, really had some problem areas down the stretch. Sato actually didn’t have that bad of a start to the 2019-20 regular season. It was his play since the turn of the calendar year that really caused his overall production to decline.
In the season that was for the Bulls, Sato played in all 65 games (starting in all but one of them). The only game he didn’t start was the de facto final contest of the Bulls season, where rookie point guard Coby White got the nod in the starting five in an eventual home win back in mid-March over the Cleveland Cavaliers.
But in those 65 games played for Sato during the 2019-20 season, he averaged 9.9 points per game, 3.9 rebounds, 5.4 assists, 1.2 steals, and 0.1 blocks. He shot 43.0 percent from the field, 32.2 percent from beyond the arc, and 87.6 percent from the free-throw line.
That tally of three-point shooting percentage for Sato this season was the lowest for him since the 2016-17 campaign, where he was a rookie with the Wizards. But he also averaged a career-high 3.1 three-point attempts per game this season. The hope was with the uptick in role that we would also see Sato’s per game stats breakthrough. That wasn’t really the case this season.
Although, this wasn’t for a lack of trying. Sato posted a career-best three-point attempt rate just above 36.0 percent this season.
Sato was in a good flow at the outset of the regular season. But that play dwindled down the stretch. Maybe he can get off to a hot start next season and settle in a bit better down the stretch than he did in his inaugural run with the Bulls.
He started off on the right foot by shooting 36.4 percent from beyond the arc in five games played in October. Then in November, he really found his groove. Sato posted a true shooting percentage above 61.0 in that month, to go along with a solid 46.0 percent from beyond the arc.
Once December arrived, Sato started to cool down. That was the only other month during the 2019-20 season where he shot better than 30.0 percent from downtown (32.4 in December).
The Bulls need Sato to be better than that next season if this team is to get closer to challenging for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference. They finished up with a record of 22-43 in the 65 games they played in during the 2019-20 season.
As a team this season, the Bulls shot pretty well under 35.0 percent from beyond the arc. They ranked among the bottom seven teams in three-point shooting percentage, but in the top five in total three-point attempts per game. Players like Sato have to be more efficient in their high volume of tries from downtown to get the entire team more productive.