Chicago Bulls: Time to start limiting Kris Dunn’s minutes
The Chicago Bulls should be happy to get Kris Dunn back but not so happy that they let him ruing their tanking goals.
On one hand, seeing Kris Dunn healthy and back on the basketball court this week for the Chicago Bulls was a welcome sight.
Dunn played 20 minutes in Wednesday’s 122-98 drubbing at the hands of the Toronto Raptors just before the All-Star break. While that couldn’t have been the result he was looking for, just playing again had to feel good.
If I had fallen the way that Dunn did against the Golden State Warriors back on January 17, I’d certainly breathe a sigh of relief or two to make it back onto the court without incident.
Now, with a week-long break ahead for the Bulls and an appearance in the Risings Stars Challenge coming, Dunn is looking ahead to the future.
In particular, the second-year guard wants to take charge more as a leader for this young squad. Here’s what he said after Wednesday’s loss, according to 670 The Score’s Cody Westerlund.
"“It’s time to be a leader…I think the first half, I kind of stepped back, because we had so many veterans…but now I’m going to start trying to be more of a vocal leader in order to carry on to the second half and let it carry on through the summer and for the next season, we can start to get it clicking.”"
And I really hope he accomplishes that, as the young Chicago Bulls will need his leadership going forward.
But if I were the Bulls, I’d ask him to lead a bit more often from the bench than on the court in the second half.
Right now, the Bulls currently have the eighth-worst record in the league at 20-37. That’s not completely horrible in terms of their chances to rack up a top lottery pick.
But if they want more shots at the real prize — one of the top four picks in the 2018 NBA Draft — they need more losses. Now. And there are quite a few teams, like the Orlando Magic and Phoenix Suns, that are already getting the tank on.
If the Bulls want to keep pace, which it seems John Paxson does, he needs to follow through on his promises.
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Eat into Dunn’s minutes and play Cameron Payne and Jerian Grant more.
First, that helps you figure out whether you want to keep either (or neither) of them next year. You already know that Dunn’s a solid, still-improving player that can lead a team. Secondly, it will probably help you lose.
In particular, you need to play Payne to see if he has any trade value at all still. If possible, you never want to lose a player for nothing, though the Bulls should be prepared to do that. One way or another, Payne has to go after this season.
Dunn’s a competitive guy, so I’m sure that won’t be easy to deal with. But as an organization, you have bigger goals than winning games in a meaningless season.
And while Fred Hoiberg has a point somewhat about wins helping the Chicago Bulls going forward, they’ve won enough.
They came back from a terrible 3-20 start and played some really good basketball. They know they have some real players going forward. And they know Hoiberg can actually, really coach basketball, something we wondered about after Year 1. His job should be safe no matter what happens this season.
Next: Lauri Markkanen to win Rising Stars' MVP?
Let Dunn get time to grow with Lauri Markkanen and Zach LaVine, but don’t let him blow up your goals. Start cutting into Dunn’s minutes, preserve the long-term goal over the short-term and keep him ready for next year.
Maybe when 2019 rolls around, we could be talking about a team that deserves a shot to attack the postseason. For now, though? Nope. It’s not worth it.