Chicago Bulls: Was Mike Dunleavy a Good Addition?

The Chicago Bulls’ biggest weakness during the 2012-13 season was easily their 3-point shooting. Chicago shot just 15.4 3s per game (29th in the league) and made only 35.3 percent of them (20th in the league). When the Bulls selected Tony Snell with the 20th pick in the 2013 NBA Draft, it was basically an open declaration of what Chicago needed to do to improve and how they were going to go about doing it. But then they made an interesting decision to not offer Marco Belinelli anything and he was picked up by the San Antonio Spurs for a two-year, $6 million contract.

Why is that move so interesting? Well, for one thing, $6 million over two years is a bargain price that the Spurs will be paying and it’s the exact same price Chicago will be paying for Dunleavy. In truth, Belinelli did get offered more money to play with the Cleveland Cavaliers, but turned them down to be a part of the Spurs’ championship pedigree. Either way, the Bulls could easily have afforded to keep him and the welcome 3-point shooting he brought to the Windy City. At the time, it seemed like a bad decision to let him walk for such a cheap contract with another team when what the Bulls need most is perimeter shooting.

But then Chicago totally redeemed itself with the acquisition of Mike Dunleavy.

Now I have League Pass and try to watch as much regular-season basketball as I can, but I can’t confess to having watched a large number of Milwaukee Bucks’ games last year. So when it came out that the Bulls had signed Dunleavy to replace the hole previously filled by Belinelli, it seemed like a downgrade. And it seemed like a downgrade to the other uneducated NBA fans as well. The Bulls had signed a bench player from the lowly Milwaukee Bucks to replace a guy who had stepped up for an injury-ridden Chicago squad in the playoffs? One who provided them with nine points per game and nearly 36 percent 3-point shooting? One who dropped 24 points, six rebounds and 3-of-6 from 3-point range in a road Game 7 against the Brooklyn Nets? What had Dunleavy done all season?

A simple stat comparison shows how this move is actually a major upgrade for Chicago. Dunleavy posted 10.5 points, 3.9 rebounds and 43 percent 3-point shooting in just 26 minutes per game. For the record, that’s an upgrade from Belinelli in scoring, rebounding and shooting in the same amount of minutes. And like Belinelli, Dunleavy showed the playoffs aren’t too big a stage for him, as he increased his totals to 12.3 points, 4.0 rebounds, 44 percent 3-point shooting and 57 percent shooting from the floor. Don’t forget that this guy averaged 19 points per game in Indiana just six seasons ago (and 15 per game the season after that). He averaged 36 minutes per game in that solid year, so it’s not like the guy can’t produce when given enough minutes. Taking all that into account, I’d say Mike Dunleavy was a brilliant signing.

Dunleavy has his weaknesses, sure. He’s not exactly the best athlete in the world  isn’t exactly the most disciplined player on the court. He can get frustrated at times and let his hot temper get the best of him, as Serge Ibaka found out after a hilarious karate chop 15 seconds into this video:

But Dunleavy fits the bill as a defender in Tom Thibodeau’s system as well. He’s a definite upgrade from Belinelli defensively and that’s exactly what Chicago needs each and every player on their roster to bring to the table. The fact that he brings superior 3-point shooting is the main reason Chicago picked him up in the first place, but the Bulls have to be excited about the enhanced defense he’ll provide on the wing off the bench.

Thibodeau has some decisions to make based on what he sees in practice as to what his rotation will be. Aside from Derrick Rose returning to the lineup, the Bulls now have some juggling to do in order to figure out how to utilize Jimmy Butler, Tony Snell, Mike Dunleavy and possibly Richard Hamilton at the shooting guard and small forward positions. But at the very least, the Bulls’ big problem of figuring out which talented 3-point threat to play on the wings is a welcome one.