Chicago Bulls: 3 players to let go that are poor fits with Billy Donovan

Denzel Valentine, SG/SF

I’ve talked a lot about how the Bulls should explore their options this coming offseason to find a potential replacement for the 27-year-old former Michigan State Spartans shooting guard/wing Denzel Valentine. The Bulls did hand a one-year contract to Valentine last offseason to re-sign him off of the restricted free agent market.

Since that time, the contributions that Valentine gave the Bulls were mixed at best. His play really didn’t contribute much value to the Bulls over the course of the last two months.

Donovan does value the presence of guards and wings that can space the floor, especially given the amount of time he’s had to run three-guard lineups with the Bulls and Oklahoma City Thunder in the last two seasons. But Valentine is a ball-dominant guard/wing that isn’t playing at a very efficient level this season.

In fact, Valentine has never registered more than .060 win shares per 48 minutes or a box plus/minus rating above zero in his NBA career to date. The Bulls need to at least get an average producer in the shooting guard/wing rotation to upgrade the resources that Donovan has to work with off of the bench.

This coming offseason will be the first time in Valentine’s career that he is set to hit the unrestricted free agent market. That is if the Bulls don’t plan on re-signing him for the second offseason in a row. It wouldn’t make much sense for the Bulls to at least not explore their options among potential Valentine replacements in free agency and/or the draft this offseason.