Chicago Bulls: 5 takeaways from 2017-18 preseason

5. The starting lineup is set

Coming into training camp, Fred Hoiberg didn’t have a clear idea as to which players would make up the starting five, with the exception of Robin Lopez, of course.

"“I don’t know,” Hoiberg told the Chicago Tribune. “It’s going to be an open competition for our spots and that’s going to create good, healthy competition. And that’s what I’ve seen from this group basically for the three weeks we’ve had leading into the month.”"

As the preseason wore on, though, it became evident who would be playing alongside Lopez in the starting lineup, for the most part.

With Kris Dunn sustaining a finger injury, Jerian Grant was awarded the starting point guard spot almost by default. Both players averaged eight points per outing, but Grant was the team’s best distributor with 5.6 dimes per contest.

Nikola Mirotic, whose departure seemed like a foregone conclusion during the offseason, will start at the power forward spot after beating out Bobby Portis and rookie Lauri Markkanen. While there was little suspense in regards to these two positions, Hoiberg’s choice for the No. 3 slot — Paul Zipser — is interesting.

The reason this is interesting is because Denzel Valentine played better than Zipser, even though he came off the bench. Zipser’s averages included 6.6 points, 2.8 rebounds and 1.4 assists per contest on 39 percent shooting from the field and 35 percent from 3-point range.

Conversely, Valentine averaged 11.0 points, 3.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists per outing while shooting 49 percent overall and 47 percent from beyond the arc. From a production standpoint, Valentine should be starting at the small forward position and it will be interesting to see if he is able crack the starting rotation at some point during the season.