Chicago Bulls: How Lauri Markkanen can become a future star

As the Chicago Bulls look ahead towards a promising rebuild, the organization should feel excited over their 2017 first round draft pick. Lauri Markkanen has a chance to become a future star in the NBA, given time.

For anyone who believes the Chicago Bulls should have gotten more value in return for trading away Jimmy Butler on draft night, hold that thought for now.

For in a few years, you may be thinking otherwise. While young guards, Zach LaVine and Kris Dunn, could turn out to be key building-block pieces for the Bulls, don’t sleep on rookie power forward, Lauri Markkanen.

Markkanen, the seven-foot forward from Arizona, was selected seventh overall by the Bulls in the 2017 NBA Draft. The Bulls fell in love with him because of his ability to make three-pointers consistently in college.

As accurate as they get from deep

Despite playing just one season at Arizona, Markkanen made 42% percent of his three-point attempts. That’s especially impressive, given he shot nearly five of them per game.

Dependable free-throw maker

Plenty of big men who come to the NBA following college struggle mightily making free-throws. Too bad Markkanen can’t agree with that. At least not yet, anyway.

In his lone season at Arizona, the rookie center made an impressive 84-percent of his free-throw attempts. Typically, players coming out of college improve their free-throw percentage in the NBA over time. That bodes well for Markkanen. Especially, given that the free-throw shooting distance remains unchanged from college to the pros.

NBA Player Comparison

When glancing at Markkanen from afar, it’s easy to mistake him for a “younger” Kristaps Porzingis. While Porzingis is three inches taller than Markkanen, both share similar playing styles.

Sharing a knack for shot-making

Both players are reliable three-point shooting threats from anywhere on the court. In addition, Markkanen, much like his older counterpart, Porzingis, makes a living routinely knocking down uncontested shots off the pick-and-pop.

Porzingis, in his two seasons playing for the New York Knicks, has proven to be a reliable free-throw shooter, making 81-percent of them. Chalk that up as another similarity between the two players.

Rebounding struggles

Despite being seven-foot tall giants on the basketball court, neither Markkanen nor Porzingis lights up the scoreboard when it comes to rebounding. Porzingis averages 7.3 rebounds-per-game in the NBA. Decent, but not spectacular, given Porzingis is pretty much the tallest player on the court, any given night.

More from Da Windy City

The same rebounding inconsistency applies to Markkanen as well. In 37 games played at Arizona, the Bulls’ draft pick averaged 7.2 rebounds-per-contest.

Markkanen’s rebounding struggles may become more evident in the NBA. Especially, given he will be now playing against power forwards and centers who are taller, stronger, and more athletic than the competition he faced in college.

Defensive liability

Like Porzingis, Markkanen struggles at times defensively. Sure, being a 7-foot tall NBA player has its benefits. Especially from an offensive standpoint.

Unfortunately, those benefits can drastically turn into a burden on the defensive side of the court in a hurry. Both Porzingis and Markkanen can attest to this.

Neither player is agile enough to stay with smaller, quicker, offensive players off the dribble. Especially, if there is a defensive switch evident on a play.

In addition, despite having a clear height advantage over opposing players most nights, both Markkanen and Porzingis often get bullied while trying to defend the post, due to their thin statures. This can often lead to earlier-than-anticipated foul trouble for both players.

Future Outlook

If Markkanen ends up having a career similar to Porzingis, the Bulls’ front office will be ecstatic.

Despite some glaring defensive deficiencies, Porzingis has proven to be one of the best, young big men in the NBA to date. In just his second season in the league, he averaged an impressive 18.1 points-per-game for the New York Knicks. Nearly a four-point increase from his rookie year.

Of course, for Markkanen to have a similar career as Porzingis, a couple of things need to happen in the Bulls’ favor, right from the get-go.

Markkanen must crack a spot in the Chicago Bulls’ rotation this upcoming season. The easiest way Markkanen can develop into a reliable player for the Bulls over time is through playing valuable minutes on the court as a rookie. That way, he can learn from any mistakes made, while also gaining newfound confidence through experiencing early season success.
Develop a reliable post-up game. This is an area Markkanen can improve drastically on, given more time practicing. Tipping the scale at just 230 pounds will not scare any post defender guarding him. As such, Markkanen would much rather prefer to settle on just shooting uncontested shots all game.

Next: Bulls' Markkanen is most valuable to team as a stretch five

Breaking a habit isn’t easy. But, if Markkanen can begin to develop some useful post-up moves towards the basket as a rookie, like his counterpart, Porzingis, his offensive game will instantly reach new heights. And in return, maybe the Chicago Bulls will have a new star player in the making, already on their rebuilding roster.

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