With the defensive standout point guard Kris Dunn gone for the Chicago Bulls this offseason, which guards will need to step up in his place?
One of the more surprising parts of the offseason in the Chicago Bulls camp was some of the decision made on the restricted free agent market by newly hired executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley. The Bulls brought back two of their four impending free agent guards heading into this offseason.
The two that the Bulls brought back among their restricted free agent guards were second-year shooting guard/wing Adam Mokoka and 27-year-old 6-foot-4 shooting guard Denzel Valentine. Mokoka did flash some potential at times last season, so bringing him back in one of the two-way contract slots wasn’t all that surprising. But bringing back Valentine certainly shocked a large faction of the Bulls fan base.
And the two restricted free agent guards that the Bulls let walk this offseason were defensive stopper point guard Kris Dunn and breakthrough combo guard Shaquille Harrison. Dunn wound up signing a two-year value contract with the Atlanta Hawks. And the Utah Jazz got a steal out of Harrison, as they signed him to a one-year minimum contract.
New scheme philosophies and rotational movement likely caused Karnisovas to make some of these moves. He’s trying to put the best rotation possible together that he can on the floor for newly hired head coach Billy Donovan.
The Bulls still have a lot of defensive value to replace as they let Dunn and Harrison walk. Namely, Dunn was the Bulls best perimeter defender they’ve had in recent memory. Here’s a look into three players that will have to step up for the Bulls this season in the wake of Dunn’s absence.