Denzel Valentine, SG/SF
It is clear now that the Bulls backcourt rotation needs work heading into the offseason. A good example of that is how the Bulls have to give a lot of minutes in their second and/or third units off the bench to the likes of 27-year-old shooting guard/wing Denzel Valentine and point guard Ryan Arcidiacono.
There are points of the season where I’ve felt like the opinions geared toward Valentine were unfair. He was brought back to the Bulls last offseason on a low-risk one-year contract, worth just under $5 million. The former Michigan State Spartan Valentine saw his efficiency wane down the stretch this season. And with that, his minutes faded too.
It’s more or less the spot in the rotation and role that would be best served for Donovan and the Bulls to fill with another player than Valentine, than him weighing down the cap sheet too much.
This is all too common of a storyline for Valentine over the course of his five-year-long career. Valentine has yet to register a player efficiency rating over 13.0, box plus/minus rating even close to above zero, and a true shooting percentage above 53.0, in his time in the NBA thus far.
The former 2016 lottery pick for the Bulls might be spending his last year with this team. He does have the capability to do things for this Bulls rotation that they need. But the downsides occasionally look to be more problems than benefits for the Bulls when giving playing time to Valentine. The ability to space the floor and command the floor with the ball in his hands is nice, but Valentine is also a bad defender and often makes head-scratching plays that are difficult to watch.