We may still have over a month until Bulls training camp gets underway, but Legion Hoops decided to throw out their projected starting lineup for the upcoming season.
I can’t say I disagree.
https://twitter.com/LegionHoops/status/1163159715829805056?s=20
From the moment Tomas Satoransky signed, the Bulls starting point guard (and overall starting five) should have been fairly obvious. Adjustments can be made down the road, of course – after all, the Bulls have gone from barren to incredibly deep in the point guard category – but Satoransky fits the mold for exactly what this starting group needs and is your obvious starter on Day 1.
In an ideal world, however, Coby White will shine early on and eventually find his way into the starting five. That sort of slow roll out could put him in the best position to succeed (and even make good on some of the lofty predictions from his fellow rookies). As for Satoransky, the adjustment should probably be an easy one, as he grew familiar to a bench role in Washington.
With all of that said … Kris Dunn does throw a bit of a wrench into the Bulls’ future plans.
Dunn is a defensive-minded point guard who comes with a box of tools that is too good to be a third-string player, but not quite good enough to be a starter. Using him as a backup doesn’t sound like a bad idea, but the Bulls have White, and that’s where the team’s future rests. So While I think he still has potential to be a relatively important role player in the NBA … I’d just prefer that to be not on the Chicago Bulls.
Nevertheless, in his most recent mailbag, Bulls.com beat reporter Sam Smith made it sound as though he believes Dunn will be apart of the Bulls agenda. He refers to an interesting interaction between Dunn and John Paxson during Summer League, where Dunn greeted Paxson as a “long lost brother.” Dunn proceeded to hang with his teammates, and all was well … which is a little surprising considering all the chatter about the Bulls trying to replace him earlier this offseason.
If this is the case, and the past is water under the bridge for Dunn and the Bulls, the coaching staff will have their hands full with figuring out this point guard rotation.
Beyond that, the only other reasonable starting lineup we might see would include Thaddeus Young at the four and Markkanen at the five. With all of the injury trouble for Wendell Carter Jr., I wouldn’t be surprised to see the Bulls be a bit more cautious with him toward the beginning of the year. Young is basically a starter coming off the bench, so we could very well see him implemented into the starting lineup more than anyone else (he also has early-career experience at small forward in his back pocket).
Uncertainty plagues the Bulls future, but we can take some solace in knowing the starting lineup they’ve been trying to build over the last several seasons is practically complete. Now, one of the many questions that remain, will it work?