Denzel Valentine: Showing The Chicago Bulls What They’ve Been Missing
Denzel Valentine, the Chicago Bulls’ first round pick in 2016, has been a spark plug as of late coming off of the bench. If the Chicago Bulls would have realized Valentine’s strong impact on the court months ago, their season outlook might have been a whole lot brighter.
Coming out of Michigan State, Denzel Valentine was overlooked by many teams. After all, Valentine was a player who remained in college through the end of his senior year. Most NBA prospects nowadays are one-and-done players in college. Not Valentine though.
He simply stayed at Michigan State to improve his overall game in a multitude of areas. All that hard work eventually paid off, as the Chicago Bulls selected him with the 14th overall pick in the 2016 NBA Draft.
Valentine, a 6′ 6” guard, won the 2016 Associated Press Player of the Year Award during his final season at Michigan State. He was recognized as the nation’s most outstanding college basketball player. While he lacked the speed and quickness that NBA teams covet, his intangibles at Michigan State were off the charts.
Throughout his senior season, Valentine ran Michigan State’s offense, playing the point. He dictated the offense, thriving on creating easy baskets for his teammates. Averaging nearly 8 assists-per-game, Valentine’s passing skills were special for a player his size. Even more so was his three-point shooting.
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NBA teams covet three-point shooting more than ever now. It’s what continues to make teams like the Golden State Warriors thrive on offense. Three point shooting helps keep struggling teams in games late, while propelling superior ones to victory.
It’s become no secret that the Chicago Bulls struggle making three pointers consistently. Players like Rajon Rondo, Jimmy Butler, and Dwyane Wade are not known to be reliable shooters from outside. They thrive off driving to the basket. But, in order for them to have clear paths towards the paint, the team must have outside shooters spacing out the floor.
This is what the Bulls unfortunately have lacked pretty much all season long. Players, particularly ones coming off the bench who pose as three-point threats. The lack of capable shooters is the main reason why Fred Hoiberg has struggled as a head coach for two seasons. The Bulls, for the most part, can’t score enough points to keep up with high-powered offenses late in games.
Bring in Denzel Valentine. The rookie who can save the day! Or at least become a consistent bright spot for an average-at-best Bulls’ team from here-on-out.
It appeared, until recently, that the Bulls’ organization forgot Valentine was a terrific three-point shooter coming out of college. His career three-point percentage in college was .408. That’s by NBA standards very good, especially when you take his .444 senior year percentage into account.
Why the organization barely played their 2016 top pick for most of this season is a head-scratcher. The only way for a young player to improve after all is by playing him consistent minutes on the court.
That’s why the trade sending Taj Gibson and Doug McDermott to the Thunder may end of being a blessing in disguise for the Bulls. The trade now gives Valentine an opportunity to play regularly in the rotation. Since the end of the All-Star Break, Valentine is playing over 25 minutes per game, while even more importantly shooting lights out from three. In doing so, he’s helped create more floor spacing for his teammates around him.
All it takes for a young player like Valentine to have success on the court is an opportunity to play both loose and freely. You play calm, cool, and collected in knowing that one shot missed isn’t going to break your career. When a rookie like Valentine plays sparsely, like he did up until the All-Star Break, nerves are going to become more evident.
That’s all it takes to mess up someone’s game. If you’re a player, who feels he has to make an earth-shattering impact while on the court for only a few minutes per game. Not a recipe for success.
It’s the coaching staff’s fault for not realizing what they had in Valentine sooner. If he would’ve played more often in the first half of the season, maybe the Chicago Bulls would be higher up in the Eastern Conference standings.
There’s no way to prove that for a fact, but his presence on the court is now being felt by opposing teams. They can’t leave him open now. Otherwise, as he’s demonstrated recently, he’ll make opposing defenses pay the price from deep.
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Will Valentine continue playing well in his extended role for the Bulls? Only time will tell, but his future no doubt looks promising. Sure, there will probably be some off-shooting nights on his part. Happens to even the best players in the NBA from time-to-time.
What matters though is he’s finally getting an opportunity to show what made him so successful in college. Making threes.
Something the Chicago Bulls could use plenty more of, from here-on-out