Chicago Bulls: Daniel Gafford, transition game shines in Summer League opener

The Chicago Bulls Summer League opener in Las Vegas was a fun one. They disposed of the Lakers and in doing so, gave us all a glimpse of what’s to come.

This season, the Chicago Bulls will be relying upon Coby White to do some heavy lifting in jump-starting the offense, but after watching last night’s 96-76 victory, he wasn’t getting nearly the buzz that his new teammate, Daniel Gafford did.

I’ll get to him in a moment, but there were several things that White did throughout the contest that definitely raised eyebrows. To start with, I mean wow, we might have gotten a glimpse of what the Bull’s offense looks like this season:

Remember when Jim Boylen wanted the team to slow down the pace last season? Perhaps that farce of a gameplan is kaput. Even if White isn’t starting out of the gate, his downhill style of play really gives the offense a nice jolt.

White wasn’t considered a pass-first point guard, but he impressed me a little bit with some of the plays he made. First offensive possession, he and Gafford connected on a perfect alley-oop to open up the scoring. Had he actually been surrounded by capable scorers, he would’ve had far more than the three assists he finished with. Also, it looks like he might be a very good team defender in the coming years:

One other note about White was that he did play off the ball a bit. There were times he played off of Shaq Harrison and Walt Lemon Jr., so this should allow the team to throw out more versatile lineups to maximize everyone’s skill sets.

All that being said, he wasn’t terribly efficient (18 points on 18 shots), but I’m willing to overlook that because he offers more than being a willing gunner.

As for Gafford, he was far and wide the best player on the floor. Referring back to how White really boosted the team’s transition game, Gafford truly thrived. There’s no questioning his energy and activeness, but he’s doing all the right things when he’s running to the rim (watch all the alley-oops thrown his way). The guy owned the paint all night on both sides of the floor with four blocks and eight defensive rebounds.

https://twitter.com/chicagobulls/status/1147317993711398913

It’s almost kind of fitting that after drafting Bobby Portis (energy big off the bench from the University of Arkansas), that the Bulls found a true replacement. Just goes to show that you shouldn’t just punt away all of your second-round picks for money.

As for the rest of the team, all that can really be said is that the three-point shooting was beyond putrid. 20 attempts, one make (thank you, Chandler Hutchison). Seven of those misfires came from White, so he’ll need to do a little better in that department moving forward.

As for Hutch, he did some good things but nothing very memorable. The Summer League should be a good opportunity for him to get better with his shooting because in 44 games last year, he was a 28% shooter from deep. Not good enough for someone who the team liked enough to give him a draft day promise.

Harrison was having a weak night offensively out of the gates, but stat-padded with some fast break action down the stretch. He did look strong on defense, which is his forte. Odds are he’s doing a tryout for the other 29 teams in the NBA and the “X” number of teams overseas. But if the team does move Kris Dunn, then maybe Shaq gets to stick around.

Overall, there are some positives about the guys who will be on the team this season and what the identity of the Bulls might be this fall. Hopefully, they make a plan and stick to it.