Chicago Bulls: 2 studs, 1 dud, from enduring win over Rockets

Chicago Bulls studs from win over the Rockets: Alfonzo McKinnie

You can’t go through a studs list for the Bulls from this win over the Rockets without talking about the newly re-upped Chicago native forward Alfonzo McKinnie. The former Golden State Warriors and Cleveland Cavaliers forward McKinnie came through with his best performance yet for the Bulls in this game, helping to spark the bench in a big way.

It was clear that the two best players coming off the bench for the Bulls in this game were McKinnie and third-year point guard Coby White. But only one of these two Bulls players could get one of the two studs spots on this list.

I did go with McKinnie over White thanks to his well-rounded performance that also came at the right time. McKinnie just got his 10-day contract re-upped coming out of the weekend. And he really proved that he belongs with this roster.

Who knows, maybe the Bulls will keep him around instead of someone like the sharpshooting guard/wing Matt Thomas.

In this win over the Rockets, McKinnie came up with 16 points on 6-of-10 shooting from the field, 4-of-6 from beyond the arc, and with no attempts from the free-throw line. He also registered five rebounds (two of which came on the offensive glass), one assist, no steals, one block, and no turnovers.

This outing for McKinnie looked to have Bulls fans clamoring to keep him around for the rest of the season. And that makes sense if it is possible for the Bulls to shift the roster around to part ways with someone that is less of an effective fit with this group.

For the time being, though, it is worth recognizing how special this performance was for McKinnie to get the win in the back end of these back-to-back games.