Chicago Bulls: Why they should not trade Nikola Mirotic

Chicago Bulls forward Nikola Mirotic is reportedly on the trade block. Here’s a look a why the team should not part ways with the fourth-year forward.

Coming into the season, the Chicago Bulls were expected to finish with the worst record in the league. After the first 23 games, that assessment appeared to be accurate, as the Bulls stumbled out of the gate with a 3-20 record.

Since that time, the Bulls have transformed into a different team and a lot of that has to do with how well Nikola Mirotic has played since returning to the lineup back in early December. Following a preseason altercation with Bobby Portis, Mirotic sustained a concussion and multiple facial fractures – something that could have potentially derailed his season.

Fortunately, Mirotic hasn’t allowed the setback to keep him from playing the best basketball of his career since he joined the team prior to the 2014-15 campaign (more on that in a bit). In spite of the uptick in Mirotic’s production, it is being reported that the Bulls will more than likely try to move the fourth-year forward, according to David Aldridge of NBA.com.

Although Mirotic and his camp supposedly issued an ultimatum to the organization shortly after the incident took place, here are a few reasons why the Bulls should keep Mirotic in the fold.

For starters, Mirotic is playing out of his mind right now. In fact, he has posted career highs in scoring (17.1 points per contest), rebounding (6.7 per contest) as well as assists (1.6 per outing). While those stats are significant, the story doesn’t end there.

During his first three years in Chicago, Mirotic never shot better than 41 percent from the field overall and his best conversion rate from downtown was 39 percent. This season, Mirotic is shooting 48.3 percent from the field and 43.9 percent from 3-point range. Both of these marks are career highs for Mirotic.

One of the most frustrating things about Mirotic coming into this season was inconsistency. During the first three years of his career with the Bulls, Mirotic scored at least 15 points a game no more than seven consecutive outings. This year, he has already equaled that total even though he has played in just 22 games, per Basketball-Reference.com.

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Also, Mirotic reached the 20-point plateau 11 times in each of his first two seasons and he had eight such occurrences during the 2016-17 campaign. This season, Mirotic has already accomplished the feat nine times – a number that will more than likely to increase as the season progresses.

The improvement in Mirotic’s game from an offensive standpoint speaks for itself. If those numbers aren’t enough to convince you, let’s remember that Mirotic has also been playing well on the defensive end of the court as well.

Sure, he will never be able to contain players such as Anthony Davis or DeMarcus Cousins, but it is worth mentioning that Mirotic has the second-best defensive rating on the team behind Kris Dunn. In other words, he is no longer considered a liability on defense.

Just for good measure, it is also worth noting Mirotic’s plus/minus rating of +48 is by far the best mark of any player on the roster.

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Whether the trade speculation has any merit remains to be seen at this point. However, considering that executive vice president John Paxson has stated that any moves the team makes would have to be in the best interest of the organization, combined with the fact that very few teams will be willing to offer a first round pick in return, the Bulls would be wise to hang onto Mirotic for the foreseeable future.

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