Chicago Bulls: Bobby Portis key to future bench unit

As much as the Chicago Bulls need more star talent, they also need Bobby Portis to keep excelling off the bench.

As much as Chicago Bulls fans have been focused on the emergence of guys like Zach LaVine, Lauri Markkanen and Kris Dunn, the play of Bobby Portis may quietly be one of this team’s most encouraging developments.

Of course, he had to get past the part where he was punching teammates in the face. At that point, his position with the team wasn’t even guaranteed.

But the Bulls put their support behind him, and he has done his best to show them that he belongs here when this team competes for a title again.

Just look at what he did to the Philadelphia 76ers, one of the best teams in the East, Thursday night.

15-of-26 from the field. 6-of-9 from 3-point range. Eight rebounds. Basically the only thing he didn’t do was get the 40 points he promised.

Plus, he followed that up with a 15-point performance on Saturday against the Minnesota Timberwolves and scored 19 and 18 points against Orlando and Toronto, respectively, before that Philly performance.

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Given the most minutes of his career to this point (21.3), he’s averaging a career-best 13.0 points per game. Plus, his 3-point shooting has slowly improved, up to 34.7 percent from 33.3 last year.

Though Markkanen is the future at forward for the Chicago Bulls and they may well select another forward in the 2018 NBA Draft, Portis’ role could prove an instrumental one in years to come.

The best teams need bench production, and Portis has proven himself a reliable energy player/scorer as a sixth man. Put a couple of dynamic scorers and hustlers next to him, and we could finally have a true heir to the Bench Mob. Goodness knows we’ve been waiting for that for quite a while.

Next: Portis drops 38 on the Sixers

Though it’s still early in Bobby Portis’ career, it looks like he’s already found his role with the Chicago Bulls. And as they rebuild the team around their stars and add more role players, he should continue to improve.

With any luck, maybe he can garner Sixth Man of the Year love on the new-and-improved Chicago Bulls in a few years.