Chicago Bulls: 10 criminally underrated Michael Jordan teammates

Criminally underrated teammates of Chicago Bulls legend Michael Jordan: Ennis Whatley

Much like with Threatt, the career of the former Alabama Crimson Tide star guard Ennis Whatley became one of the most underappreciated of anyone in his position group throughout the 1980s and early 1990s. The Alabama product was the 13th overall pick in the first round of the 1983 NBA Draft of the Kansas City Kings.

But Whatley would never play a single game with the Kings. The first two seasons of Whatley’s NBA career actually came with the Bulls in the mid-1980s. Whatley’s last of two seasons with the Bulls was Jordan’s rookie campaign, in 1984-85. And Whatley was one of the best distributors of the basketball that Jordan would play with early in his NBA career.

During his two seasons with the Bulls, Whatley averaged 6.8 points per game, 7.0 assists, 2.0 rebounds, 1.2 steals, and 0.2 blocks. And he shot 46.1 percent from the field, 9.1 percent from beyond the arc, and 74.8 percent from the free-throw line.

The assist-to-turnover ratio that Whatley posted during his two years with the Bulls was nothing short of spectacular (7.0-2.4 per game). What was underrated about Whatley’s game, though, was how pesky of a perimeter defender he could be. He averaged 1.5 steals per game during his rookie campaign with the Bulls and posted a steal rate around three percent in his two years with the Bulls.

Whatley doesn’t get much credit and/or recognition at all for what he did during his days with the Bulls. He should get more recognition, he just didn’t play with the Bulls and Jordan during the dynasty years.