3. Kelly Oubre
If the NBA was competitive pickup basketball, or perhaps a good old-fashioned game of 1-on-1, then I truly believe Kelly Oubre would be a superstar. In that hypothetical league, Oubre has all the skills necessary to cook whoever dares guard him. In the real NBA, however, Oubre’s deficiencies in other areas outweigh his electric scoring ability.
I could definitely see why the front office would see Oubre as an interesting free agent, as he’s attempted 7.2 three-pointers per game over the last two seasons. For a Bulls team that has ranked dead last in threes per game the last two seasons, I could definitely see addressing this being a priority for management.
The funny thing is, Oubre isn’t a good shooter. Just because he looks confident while doing it doesn’t mean he can knock them down. In fact, Oubre is a 33% shooter from deep over the course of his career, and only hit 31.9% of his attempts last season despite an incredibly high volume.
Signing Kelly Oubre in free agency would be a self-inflicted injury by the Chicago Bulls.
For a Bulls team that routinely struggles with moving the basketball in the clutch, the last thing they need is another ball-stopper. In late-game situations, the game plan often devolves into little more than standing around watching LaVine and DeMar DeRozan go to work. The Bulls need to improve the shooting they have around their star duo for these scenarios, but not if the players they acquire are more interested in inflating their stats than they are in winning games.
History has proven this to be true, as Oubre has previously shined on the Suns and Hornets when those teams were rebuilding and didn’t have the weight of high expectations on their shoulders. For the Warriors, however, Oubre was a net negative that really struggled to embrace a motion offense that focused on creating open shots regardless of who was taking the shot.