We’ve already seen Chicago Bulls head coach Billy Donovan come in and, generally, get this group going in the right direction. Zach LaVine has improved yet again, this time upping his profile as a playmaker while becoming more efficient as a scorer. He’s currently putting up career-highs in points, assists, field goal percentage, and three-point percentage.
Coby White has had to deal with the typical sophomore slump combined with trying to learn how to play point guard in the NBA. The results have been mixed. White already battled inconsistency as a rookie and the new responsibilities may be the root cause behind his struggles over the last 11 games in which he’s scored 20-plus points just twice.
But it’s not LaVine’s late-game IQ, White’s inefficiency, Otto Porter, or anything of the sort that’s the greatest worry for this team.
No, the issue is the bigs.
Lauri Markkanen, Wendell Carter, and (to a lesser extent) Daniel Gafford bring rise to more questions than answers.
From individual ceilings to whether or not they fit with the rest of the Bulls young core, the three big men all have useful skills. But they all have glaring warts that make one question why they haven’t been moved yet.
Direction of Chicago Bulls frontcourt
Markkanen is the offensive weapon. But he, like White, has struggled with consistency in his still-young career. Outside of a hellish stretch from two years ago, it’s been all flashes and glimpses. The trade rumors started swirling in the off-season but management said they had a plan for Lauri.
Carter got no such pronouncements but he made sure he wasn’t an afterthought. Already the defensive anchor, he spoke out about wanting to play more power forward and expanding his offensive game beyond putbacks.
Flash forward to just over a quarter of the season gone by and the Bulls are now playing without both bigs and not looking much worse for wear.
Markkanen is hurting the Bulls offensive rating for the first time since his rookie season but by a much wider margin. Last season he showed signs of being a positive on defense but that too has gone away as his opponents’ offensive rating is more than three points higher with him on the floor.
It’s been a similar ride for Carter. His defensive “slide” is of most concern given that it’s his calling card.
Now, these are trends from this season when the duo has missed a total of 23 games this season already. And though Carter did make his return against the Pacers, he hasn’t even appeared in 45 games in any given season while Markkanen hasn’t broken the 52-game mark since his rookie season.
We’ve been trying to figure out what these two are as players but how can we (or more importantly how can Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley) properly assess them while they’re on the sidelines? Their inability to stay healthy has no doubt contributed to their inconsistencies.
So, with Markkanen set to be a restricted free agent this summer and Carter set to join him next summer, the Bulls are faced with quite the conundrum.
Do they extend one or both banking largely on their potential (four and five years into their respective careers, by the way)? Maybe they should let them walk and risk they blossom elsewhere? Trading them seems out at the moment as both have tanked whatever value they carried into the season.
Then you have young Gafford. The second-year big man could grow to provide solid rim protection behind less-than-stellar defenders in Markkanen, LaVine, and White while also giving them a lob target; something Carter does not provide.
He cannot replace Markkanen’s (when locked in) offense, however.
Gafford has bad hands and often looks lost in offensive sets if he isn’t setting a pick. We see a dip in the Bulls offensive rating similar to the other big men for the second-year pivot out of Arkansas in his on/off numbers.
He is still a plus defensively; albeit by just a point. But, also like his two teammates, he has dealt with various nicks and bumps. This caused him to miss double-digit games as a rookie. Hopefully, it doesn’t become a pattern for him as it has for his two teammates. Or, at the very least, it isn’t the random and freak incidents that end up keeping him off the floor.
Is he good enough to fill the role of Carter and then some defensively and athletically next to Markkenen? Still waiting for an answer there. Could Carter develop enough offensively that he and Gafford could share the floor? Been waiting for an answer to this one too.
We still don’t know just what LaVine’s ceiling is. Or if White can successfully turn into a Jamal Murray-like point guard. But for all the focus on those issues, they aren’t the biggest for the Bulls.
Chicago’s biggest question is what to do with their frontcourt. Because if that was set, the warts of Zach and Coby wouldn’t be so pronounced. Unfortunately, the Bulls seem further from an answer than ever thanks to Markkanen tantalizing them with his offensive prowess and Carter becoming one of the better defensive bigs in the league but neither staying on the court.
Until one of those variables (Markkanen, Carter, Gafford, or their health) the Bulls appear stuck in this perpetual cycle. One where everyone knows a change is needed but, due to incomplete information, no one can identify just what to do.
Maybe we just need to realize inconsistent is what they are.