Chicago Bulls: 4 best surprises from the first 4 games of the season

3) Best Chicago Bulls surprises through first 4 games

Efficiency in limited spots from guards off the bench

It is a tad bit surprising that Donovan isn’t giving more minutes in the last two games to the likes of former Villanova Wildcats point guard Ryan Arcidiacono and former Michigan State Spartans shooting guard/wing Denzel Valentine off the bench. Two of the most efficient Bulls players, in whatever minutes they did get, so far this season are those two aforementioned reserve guards.

Newly hired executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley went out on a limb to bring back Valentine on a qualifying offer out of restricted free agency last offseason. And Arcidiacono also looked like he would be getting more minutes in this guard rotation after the departures of combo guard Shaquille Harrison and point guard Kris Dunn during the offseason.

However, at least guards coming off the bench like Valentine, Arcidiacono, and combo guard Tomas Satoransky are shining in what minutes they have got through four games. Although a large reason why Valentine’s minutes were limited thus far is injury problems stemming from Training Camp and the preseason. That’s no surprise to Bulls fans that Valentine is dealing with injury issues, though.

Once Valentine gets back to full health, he could get a bigger role in this backcourt rotation.

Of the three guards mentioned here, Sato definitely had the most playing time so far this season. He is actually leading the Bulls in assists per game this season (6.0) and is second behind White in total assists (18).

If nothing else, it’s nice for Donovan to have a plethora of options in the backcourt that are now playing much better in the last two games than they did in the first two.