Chicago Bulls: Javonte Green makes a case for more playing time

Just when it looked like the Chicago Bulls were in a position to flip the script on the Philadelphia 76ers, they found themselves in a bad spot down the stretch in the fourth quarter. The Bulls haven’t had much luck in the fourth quarter this season, and it didn’t look good for them on May 3, with both star shooting guard Zach LaVine and center Nikola Vucevic absent.

There’s not much of any hope left at this point that the Bulls will be able to get a spot in the play-in tournament over the likes of the Indiana Pacers and Washington Wizards. It looks like a better strategy at this point to tank and try to position themselves well in the lottery odds than to try and overcome poor odds and make it to the postseason.

What could be notable down the stretch for first-year head coach Billy Donovan and the Bulls is the opportunity for other rotational players to step up in bigger roles. And that’s largely what we saw out of the likes of the former Boston Celtics shooting guard Javonte Green and center Daniel Theis. Granted, Theis held a pretty sizable role with the Bulls as soon as he landed in Chicago.

Green was a spark for the Bulls off the bench in the loss to the Sixers at home at the United Center on May 3. While he didn’t get that much playing time when it was all said and done, he should’ve at least proved that he should compete for more minutes along with shooting guard/wing Denzel Valentine and point guard Ryan Arcidiacono.

Javonte Green giving the Chicago Bulls a lift off the bench

In the loss to the Sixers by a margin of a dozen points on May 3, Green gave the Bulls seven points off the bench. He did that on an efficient 3-of-4 shooting from the field and 1-of-1 from the free-throw line. And Green registered three rebounds, one steal, and didn’t have any turnovers.

With Green getting just 11 minutes off the bench in this game, finishing off with a +13 rating is pretty solid. The Bulls still gave Green less than a total of 50 minutes played since he landed in Chicago at the trade deadline back on March 25.

It doesn’t look like the Bulls will have much to lose down the stretch by giving Green more playing time. While he is in the final year of his current contract, maybe he can prove that he’s worth giving a look through Training Camp and the preseason ahead of next season.

Green will provide the Bulls more stability and better perimeter defending than they get out of the shorter Arcidiacono and the inept Valentine. He is a better defender and is lengthier than both of those two Bulls guards.

Moreover, it won’t hurt for Donovan to now further experiment with other looks in the rotation since the Bulls are now more than three games behind the Wizards for a spot in the play-in tournament. And with the Bulls lottery odds getting better game in and game out, shuffling the rotation down the stretch now makes more sense.

Following this 12-point loss to the Sixers on May 3, the Bulls now hold a record of 26-39. They’re not all that far off from the record they had last season prior to the pause under former head coach Jim Boylen (22-43). Next up for the Bulls is a meeting with the Charlotte Hornets on the road on May 6.