Chicago Bulls: How Did Bobby Portis Fare In Summer League?

The Chicago Bulls could have gone in a few different directions in this year’s draft. And although they were in need of another wing player and/or combo guard, it was somewhat surprising that the team did not attempt to address either of those areas. In fact, the Bulls decided to add more depth to their front line.

But with a frontcourt that already includes Joakim Noah, Pau Gasol, Taj Gibson and Nikola Mirotic, going in this direction didn’t make much sense. At least from an initial glance anyways.

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However, with the 22nd pick, the Bulls selected Bobby Portis—a 6’11” power forward out of the University of Arkansas. When asked about the reason for the selection, here is what general Gar Forman had to say, as Chicago Tribune’s K.C. Johnson reports:

"“We had Bobby pegged as a lottery pick, and in our minds as we went through all our evaluations and did all our work, we thought there was no chance that he would be there when we were picking. And when he was still on the board at (No.) 22, we stayed true to our board, in that we’re going to draft who we feel is the best player available and is a fit with our team and with our organization.”"

Forman also went on to say that Portis would have to earn his minutes from the first day. And while there was reason to believe that Portis would not see significant playing time next year, a few of his performances during the NBA Summer League may have proven otherwise.

First of all, let’s talk about his debut against the Minnesota Timberwolves. In that contest, Portis poured in 23 points along with seven rebounds and one block.

Make no mistake about it, the 23 points and seven rebounds were solid numbers in his first taste of NBA action. But what impressed me the most about Portis from this outing was his ability to knock down the jumper from distance.

Not only did he convert three of his four attempts from beyond the arc, he looked comfortable doing so. It is one thing to have a big that can hit the mid-range jumper, but when you have a power forward that can knock down a few from distance, that is a luxury that every team would love to have.

Next up, let’s take a look at Portis’ third outing against the Cleveland Cavaliers.

In this outing, Portis scored 16 points, grabbed 10 rebounds and recorded two blocks as well. And as illustrated in the above video Portis is a guy who moves very well without the basketball.

So well in fact that a few of his shot attempts were easy baskets around the rim, including a gorgeous screen and roll with shooting guard Vander Blue that Portis finished with an emphatic jam. Needless to say, if Portis continues to show that he can be effective with and without the basketball in his hands, the ceiling for this young man is very high.

Last, but certainly not least, we will look at Portis’ final game of Summer League action against the Phoenix Suns.

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In what turned out to be his most impressive outing, Portis scored 25 points on 8-for-18 shooting to go along with 15 rebounds and two blocks. And although the Bulls would go on to lose 91-84; it certainly wasn’t due to a lack of effort from Portis.

My first takeaway from this contest was his effort on the glass. I already knew that Portis was a decent rebounder, as he averaged 8.9 boards per game during his sophomore season. But the one stat that may have been overlooked from this contest was the fact that six of his 15 rebounds came on the offensive glass.

This is a pretty significant statistic when taking into consideration that he recorded a total of five offensive rebounds combined in the previous five contests.

Another thing that jumped out at me is that Portis has a better post game than what most people gave him credit for coming out of college. With each outing, he began to look more comfortable taking his defender down on the block, hitting them with a soft fall-away or one-handed jump hook off the glass.

And while there is always room for improvement, Portis is showing that he certainly can deliver the goods from an offensive standpoint.

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But in fashion of keeping the story balanced, we also have to acknowledge that not all was rosy for Portis during Summer League play. For example, in his other three games, Portis connected on just 8-of-31 attempts (26 percent) for a total of 23 points.

And from a defensive standpoint, he didn’t do much to shed the label of not being a great rim protector, as he averaged just 1.3 blocks per game. That is a trend that will need to change because although he has shown the ability to be a capable scorer, that will not matter much if he is a liability on the defensive end of the court.

Overall, I would have to say that Portis played reasonably well, averaging 14.5 points, a team-high 8.7 rebounds on 42 percent shooting in 28.2 minutes per contest. And he showed that he is not just an around-the-rim scorer, as he connected on five of his 12 attempts from three-point range, which equates to an impressive 41.7 conversion rate.

To put this stat into its proper perspective, Doug McDermott, who averaged 18.8 points per game on 48 percent shooting and was named to the All-NBA Summer League first team, shot an abysmal 12.5 percent from distance. Now, I will not say that this trend will continue once the real games are upon us.

But what I will say is, if Portis continues to play with the same high level of energy, effort and tenacity that we saw during six-game tournament, he definitely has the chance to crack the rotation next season, something that may not have happened under the previous coaching regime.

Next: Chicago Bulls: Grading Offseason Moves

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