Chicago Bulls: 3 worst big men that still got playing time in last 5 years

Joffrey Lauvergne, PF/C

Back during the 2016-17 season, the Bulls were still playing pretty well under the direction of their former head coach Hoiberg. The Bulls ran one of the more interesting backcourt experiments that season, with point guard Rajon Rondo, Chicago native future Hall-of-Fame shooting guard Dwyane Wade, and star small forward Jimmy Butler.

There were issues for Hoiberg and the Bulls that season in the frontcourt rotation too. The Bulls didn’t have a true plethora of depth in their frontcourt rotation, which was one of the many reasons why they couldn’t really work their way out of mediocrity throughout that regular season. And one of the most inefficient bigs that got minutes that season was the 6-foot-11 and 220 pound French power forward/center Joffrey Lauvergne.

The former second round pick of the Memphis Grizzlies from the 2015 NBA Draft Lauvergne never really found traction with any one team in the league. Over the course of his four years in the NBA, he spent time with the likes of the Bulls, Denver Nuggets, Oklahoma City Thunder, and San Antonio Spurs. The last team that he played for was the Spurs during the 2017-18 season.

Since then, he’s floated around various EuroLeague teams, and had a stint with France in the Summer Olympics way back in 2016. He could be part of the French team again in 2021 in the Summer Olympics in Tokyo, Japan.

However, when Lauvergne played for the Bulls during the 2016-17 campaign, he averaged 4.5 points per game, 3.4 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 0.4 steals, and had no blocks, in 20 games played. And Lauvergne shot just 40.2 percent from the field, 30.0 percent from beyond the arc, and 60.0 percent from the free-throw line.

The advanced metrics told the complete story for Lauvergne’s tenure with the Bulls a few years back. He registered a less than stellar -4.1 box plus/minus rating, 45.1 true shooting percentage, and 11.6 player efficiency rating.