Chicago Bulls: Grading the signing of Tony Bradley
A busy cycle of free agency continues for the Chicago Bulls this week. Now three days into the negotiation window in this cycle of free agency, the Bulls’ front office has added four key pieces to the rotation. That will largely help to round out the starting unit heading into next season. But two of the additions also are now helping to piece together the bench for head coach Billy Donovan.
There’s still some work to do for executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley to round out the bench this summer. They did get one step closer to finishing that off, though, on the morning of Aug. 4 with the news of the latest signing.
Karnisovas and the Bulls added the former Oklahoma City Thunder and Philadelphia 76ers center Tony Bradley on a one-year minimum deal on Aug. 4. That report came courtesy of the Twitter timeline of ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski on the morning of the third day of the free agency negotiation window.
This is definitely a low-risk signing that is of the nature of what the Bulls needed to do this summer. After the second day of the free agency negotiation window this week, the Bulls didn’t really have a true backup center behind star big man Nikola Vucevic.
Tony Bradley adds much-needed depth to the Chicago Bulls frontcourt unit
Free agent C Tony Bradley has agreed to a one-year deal with the Chicago Bulls, source tells ESPN.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 4, 2021
Signing Bradley accomplishes that mission of at least having a backup center that can give Donovan and the Bulls 15-20 minutes of decent production per game. Bradley is not going to be a potential quality starter for the Bulls by any means, but he will fill a valued role for this frontcourt unit.
Bradley is a quality rim protector that also rebounds well and finishes well within five feet of the rim. He is a player that can give the Bulls consistent production off the bench. For his career to date, Bradley usually registers around a 4.0 block percentage and 1.0 steal percentage. A rebounding percentage north of 22 is also a realistic expectation.
In realistic terms, Bradley can be someone that gives the Bulls four or five rebounds per game if he does wind up getting backup center minutes next season. He could also realistically average one block and at least 0.5 steals per game.
Bradley will be a better defensive presence for this frontcourt unit than both Vooch and fourth-year power forward Lauri Markkanen. With the Bulls needing to get better this offseason in terms of defensive personnel, the signing of Bradley makes a lot of sense.
Offensively, Bradley is more of a traditional big man. In fact, he has taken just seven total three-point attempts in his career to date. Although, he has made three of them. Bradley is a solid finisher around the rim, shooting around 65 percent from the field for his career. And he’s not bad from the free-throw line, hitting his attempts from the line at a career clip around 68 percent.
There are some signs, though, that Bradley can and will start to expand his game. He’s increased his average distance of field goal attempts from the rim each of the last three seasons. That would indicate his mid-range game is getting better. Bradley did shoot a career best roughly 55 percent from between five and 12 feet from the rim last season.
Given that Bradley is a decent free-throw shooter and his shooting stroke is improving at a gradual pace, Donovan and the Bulls might be able to increase his versatility at least a little bit next season.
All in all, it is a good signing for the Bulls to get more depth in the frontcourt unit and fill some defensive needs with Bradley. This type of signing needed to happen, and it will help to improve the bench for Donovan next season.
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This is not the type of signing that will really move the needle in terms of success in the win column. But that’s not something you would expect from adding a backup big man on a one-year minimum deal. Bradley is a quality big man that is still developing a lot of the parts of his game that could help to increase his value next season. This is a good signing for the Bulls.