3) Chicago Bulls underrated remaining FA targets
The lone name on this list that was a free agent for a while now is the former Atlanta Hawks and Portland Trail Blazers 6-foot-6 and 220 pound shooting guard/wing Evan Turner. This 32-year-old Chicago native was a journey throughout much of the last seven years, playing for four different teams. But he did find some level of stability between his stints with the Blazers and Boston Celtics.
What Turner would bring to the table for the Bulls is a wing scorer that can be a spark plug off the bench. That’s not something that the Bulls have as a true wing in their rotation at the moment. Veteran small forward Otto Porter Jr. is going to be in the starting five, and third-year small forward Chandler Hutchison likely isn’t a good answer as his backup.
Since neither OPJ nor Hutch have shown the ability to stay healthy over any extended period of time, the need to add another wing is more prominent.
Turner played in 19 games during the shortened 2019-20 regular season with the Hawks (none of which he started in). And he averaged 3.3 points per game, 2.0 rebounds, 2.0 assists, 0.5 steals, and 0.4 blocks. Turner shot 37.3 percent from the field and 85.7 percent from the free-throw line. He wasn’t really able to do much last season with the Hawks.
The last time that we really saw a quality campaign for Turner contributing off the bench was back during the 2017-18 season with the Blazers. He averaged 8.2 points per game, 3.1 rebounds, 2.2 assists, 0.6 steals, and 0.4 blocks in that campaign. And Turner shot 44.7 percent from the field, 31.8 percent from beyond the arc, and 85.0 percent from the free-throw line.
If the Bulls could get some version of the mid-2010’s (or even the 2017-18 version) of Turner, then it could be worth a veteran’s minimum deal to add wing depth to the rotation.