Chicago Bulls: 4 players to keep around for long haul
By Ryan Heckman
2. Center Daniel Gafford
Just a few years ago, the Bulls drafted a big man out of Arkansas in the first round who boasted a heck of a lot of potential. He brought the energy. He was intense. And, he continued to improve the more he had the chance. That guy was Bobby Portis.
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Just last year, Chicago did the same thing, only this time finding a huge value in the second round with Daniel Gafford. Over the course of NBA Summer League in 2019, Gafford flashed the type of player he could be and dazzled fans with some big-time blocks. After one game in particular, he told reporters that he wanted to bring the defense first, and that his offense would come.
Bulls fans heard a sweet sound during that interview: A young, hungry player who wanted to play nasty defense. What a world. After all, the Bulls needed someone to bring that type of energy on defense.
Following his shortened rookie season, Gafford’s outlook only points up. He played minimally (14.2 minutes per game) but his impact was always felt when he hit the court.
To put it in perspective, if you take Gafford’s per-36-minute numbers over his rookie year, they look like this: 13.0 points (70.1 percent shooting), 6.3 rebounds and 3.3 blocks per game. Those numbers are exactly what you want out of a reserve big man.
I remember the biggest building block of Chicago’s early bench mob back in the early Derrick Rose days, Taj Gibson, brought the same type of tenacity. If the Bulls can feed off of Gafford’s intensity in a similar fashion, and he continues to improve, he should be around for a while.