Chicago Bulls: 3 Notable Takeaways From Tony Snell Trade

Snell Never Lived Up To Expectations

The Bulls selected Snell with the No. 20 pick in the 2013 NBA draft. Following a season at New Mexico in which he averaged 12.5 points per contest while converting 39 percent of his attempts from beyond the arc, the Bulls felt they were adding a player who could bolster the team’s perimeter attack.

Unfortunately for both sides, Snell did not materialize into the player the Bulls hoped he would become. Sure, he did shoot at least 36 percent from distance in each of the last two seasons, but he also shot a career-low 36 percent from the field overall last season.

As it was alluded a bit ago, one of the most glaring issues for Snell over the last three years was that he failed to string together solid performances. There were instances when he would score in double figures one night and follow that up with a stretch of games where he would have little or no impact on the court.

One such example of this trend took place in mid-December of last season. After scoring 16 points against the Philadelphia Sixers, Snell followed that with a four-game stretch in which he scored a combined total of 15 points.

Simply put, the Bulls gave Snell every opportunity to become an integral part of the rotation, but for whatever reason, he never became the type of player they could depend on.

So while the timing of this move is somewhat surprising, barring an unexpected breakout season, this probably would have been his last year in a Bulls uniform.