These players find their future with the Chicago Bulls in a state of purgatory, but tough decisions must soon be made.
KEEP: Troy Brown Jr.
Acquired in the trade that sent Daniel Gafford to Washington, Troy Brown Jr. just can’t catch a break. Buried in the rotation in Washington and seen as a mistake in Chicago (seriously, Gafford looks very good), Brown Jr. seems to have a shadow following him that he can’t quite escape from. Fortunately, he is also a pretty good basketball player.
With the assumed departure of Denzel Valentine, the time to strike is now. Brown Jr. could carve out significant minutes with no other clear backup to LaVine and Williams at shooting guard and small forward. If he can knock down his three-point shots, Brown Jr. will get plenty of opportunities to show off his signature defensive ability and be the exact type of player that makes growing teams into a contender. Besides, $5.17 million is great value for a quality role player.
OUT: Lauri Markkanen
Lauri Markkanen has failed to improve since his sophomore season. He has complained about getting benched. He has reportedly said he wants to play for the Dallas Mavericks, despite being a restricted free agent. Oh, and he wants a contract north of what Chicago was willing to extend him for, likely in the $20 million per year range.
Interestingly, this was far from a bad season for Markkanen. In fact, there’s a lot of value to be had in a player that’s 7-foot-tall, 240 pounds, and can shoot over 40 percent on a high volume from three-point range. But what if that’s all they do? Even with career-high efficiency in nearly every shooting stat, Markkanen was given the fewest minutes per game of his career, and for good reason.
Lauri is atrocious on defense, letting teams blow by him on the perimeter and power through him in the post. Markkanen played 1,317 minutes this season and only accumulated 15 blocks, the effort just isn’t there. Furthermore, he isn’t a threat on the glass either. Markkanen averages just 5.3 rebounds per game, only 0.7 of which were of the offensive variety. With each passing day, it becomes clearer that Robin Lopez’s box-outs tricked us into thinking Lauri was a good rebounder.
It’s sort of ironic that the man with the nickname “The Finnisher” can’t finish at the rim. Of all players who played at least 200 minutes for the Bulls, Lauri had the 9th highest field goal percentage within 3 feet of the basket. It seems like Lauri’s only redeeming quality is his shooting, and that doesn’t scream $20 million to me. Then again, Davis Bertans got a $75 million deal, so who knows anymore?
ON THE FENCE: Garrett Temple
Anyone who watched Garrett Temple for Chicago this season should be nothing short of impressed. The team played visibly better whenever Temple was on the floor. Although he’s far from the most prolific scoring threat — averaging just 7.6 points in 27.3 minutes per game — Temple opted to cut down on his shot attempts and focus on impacting other areas of the game. Not even Temple could avoid Chicago’s injury curse however and was limited to 56 games played.
If Temple is willing to return on a minimum contract, I have no doubt the Bulls would jump at the opportunity. However, there’s no real incentive for Temple to stay in the Windy City instead of ring chasing if he only wants the minimum. At the same time, investing already limited cap space in a 9th or 10th man in the rotation could be a big mistake. For that reason, Temple’s future with the Chicago Bulls remains uncertain.