Where could the Chicago Bulls look in this cycle of free agency if they don’t wind up re-signing breakthrough combo guard Shaquille Harrison?
One of the more under the radar looming free agents for the Chicago Bulls is actually a rather important one to both their backcourt bench and their defensive second unit. Former Tulsa Golden Hurricane 6-foot-4 combo guard Shaquille Harrison is one of multiple guards from the Bulls that are impending free agents this offseason. John Paxson and Gar Forman brought Harrison back on a one-year minimum contract last offseason, and he did prove himself with the Bulls most of the way during the shortened 2019-20 regular season.
In fact, Harrison might’ve been one of the most underrated contributors off the bench for the Bulls throughout the season that was. He is a solid perimeter defender, and one of the best guards on that end of the floor on the current Bulls roster. Harrison also steadily improved his offensive game over the course of the last two years.
He played in 43 games during the shortened 2019-20 regular season (10 of which he started in). Harrison averaged 4.9 points per game, 2.0 rebounds, 1.1 assists, 0.8 steals, and 0.4 blocks. He shot 46.7 percent from the field, 38.1 percent from beyond the arc, and 78.0 percent from the free-throw line.
That amounted to a career and team-best 2.8 box plus/minus rating (even ahead of shooting guard Zach LaVine), .153 win shares per 48 minutes, 1.5 total win shares, 0.6 value over replacement player rating, 55.3 true shooting percentage, and a 17.8 layer efficiency rating. Pretty much all of his all-encompassing advanced metrics were career-bests (and a lot were team highs) from the 2019-20 season.
I do want to make this clear that I’m not advocating for the Bulls to part ways with Harrison, especially if he wants to return at the price of another value contract.
But if the Bulls new front office regime doesn’t think he fits well with the new direction of the rebuild heading into its fourth year, who are some free agent targets who could replace him?