Kirk Hinrich: Chicago Bulls PG Quietly Having A Good Season
Chicago Bulls guard Kirk Hinrich may be in the twilight years of his career, but he continues to show that he is a capable backup to Derrick Rose.
When you look at the Chicago Bulls roster, the marquee names that usually come to mind are Jimmy Butler, Derrick Rose and Pau Gasol. To be honest, that is warranted when you consider that Butler is having another career season, averaging 22.0 points and 4.0 assists per game.
Pau Gasol, who got off to a slow start, is averaging 16.5 points and 10.8 rebounds per contest, and he is tied for sixth in double-doubles with 19. While Derrick Rose’s 14.6 points per game average is a career low, he has been driving to the basket with greater frequency, which is a huge positive to say the least.
However, as is the case with most teams, there are players on this Bulls roster that have flown under the radar. One of the players we will pay homage to today is 13-year veteran Kirk Hinrich.
In this 11th season with the Bulls, Hinrich trails only former Bulls greats Michael Jordan and Scottie Pippen in games played with 738. Hinrich is also the franchise leader in three-point field goals made.
More from Chicago Bulls
- NBA Rumors: Chicago pursuing the best remaining free agent
- 3 Ways the Chicago Bulls can utilize their disabled player exception
- 3 Teams that dodged a bullet with Russell Westbrook news
- NBA Rumors: Could Goran Dragic’s days be numbered on the Chicago Bulls?
- Revisiting 5 recent terrible trades ahead of the deadline
Along with that, Hinrich is fourth in minutes played and is third in assists and steals. He also ranks eighth in scoring, per Basketball-Reference.com.
What about this season?
Well, to be honest, his numbers don’t exactly scream out most valuable player. In fact, he is averaging career lows in points (4.1), assists (1.7) and minutes played (15.6).
On the flip side of the coin, though, when looking at those numbers on a per-36 minutes scale, they improve to a respectable 9.4 points and 3.9 assists per contest, per Basketball-Reference.com.
Not only that, Hinrich is also shooting a career best 46.2 percent from beyond the arc and has proven to that he can still produce when his number is called. A couple of examples that support this assertion are a pair of November outings against the Phoenix Suns and the Golden State Warriors.
Against the Suns, Hinrich scored 14 points on an efficient 6-for-7 shooting and handed out six assists. In the outing against the Warriors a few nights later, Hinrich scored a season-high 17 points on 6-for-11 from the field in 34 minutes, which is impressive considering that he spent most of the night trying to defend the reigning MVP Stephen Curry.
To further cement my point about Hinrich’s value, in five games as a starter, Hinrich is averaging 8.8 points and 2.6 assists per contest while converting 63 percent of his attempts, including a 67 percent clip from beyond the arc.
"“The big thing with Kirk is he’s always going to be solid,” Fred Hoiberg told the Chicago Tribune. “You’re going to get a great effort on the defensive end and he’s not going to make mistakes on the offensive end. He can get you into something. He’s very cerebral coming down the floor based on where the players are and getting us into one of our actions.”"
More hoops habit: Every NBA Team's Best Bargain Contract
That being said, while Hinrich’s numbers aren’t jaw-dropping by any stretch of the imagination, he continues to play well in limited floor time and provides intangibles that go beyond the stat sheet. These are just a couple of reasons why Hinrich is a valuable asset to this Bulls team.