Chicago Bulls: Denzel Valentine remains confident despite reduced role

By James D. Tillman III | Jan 31, 2018

(Photo by Sean Gardner/Getty Images) /

Chicago Bulls forward Denzel Valentine remains upbeat despite being placed in a reduced role.

It has certainly been an interesting season for Chicago Bulls second-year forward Denzel Valentine. Despite playing well during a six-game preseason slate, he was relegated to the second unit even though he outplayed his counterparts at the 2.

Fortunately, head coach Fred Hoiberg eventually made the decision to give Valentine the opportunity to showcase what he could bring to the table as a starter and the results were positive, to say the least. Valentine’s scoring output during his 31 appearances in the starting lineup (9.8 points per contest) was nearly identical to his average when coming off the bench (10.1 points per outing).

Secondly, for whatever reason, Valentine’s shooting efficiency is slightly better when he starts compared to coming off the bench. During those 31 starts, he is shooting 43.1 percent overall and 39.7 percent from 3-point range.

Conversely, in his 19 appearances as a member of the second unit, Valentine is shooting 41.7 percent from the field and 38.9 percent from downtown. In an offense that is predicated on pace and space, those numbers make a case for keeping him with the starting group.

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However, just when it appeared that Valentine was starting to find his niche in the offense, the Bulls welcomed Zach LaVine back to the mix, which essentially forced Valentine into a reduced role once again and as a result, his level of play has been somewhat sporadic.

In the six games following his somewhat expected demotion, Valentine converted just 16 of his 44 attempts (36.3 percent), including a 7-for-25 effort (28 percent) from beyond the arc. In other words, he began regressing back into the player Bulls fans saw during his rookie season.

The good news is Valentine has bounced back quite nicely over his last two outings. In Chicago’s 108-103 loss to the Los Angeles Lakers on Jan. 26, Valentine had one of his better performances of the season.

In the fourth quarter of that contest, he nearly helped the Bulls overcome a 13-point deficit, scoring six points and grabbing four rebounds, before the team faltered down the stretch. He finished the game with an impressive stat line of 16 points, 11 rebounds and four assists.

In the next outing against the Milwaukee Bucks, Valentine equaled his second-highest point total of the season, scoring 18 points on 8-for-12 shooting to go along with five rebounds and four assists.

Although Valentine can’t be all that happy about coming off the bench once again, he remains confident in his ability to be a difference-maker for this new-look Bulls squad.

"“Yeah, I definitely belong out there. I think I can play at this level,” Valentine told the Chicago Sun-Times. “Zach coming back makes us a ton better, so that’s a good problem to have. But we’ve got to figure it out. It’s going to take some time to figure things out. But when we [do that], we’re going to be dangerous.”"

As Valentine pointed out, the Bulls will be a dangerous team once all of the players figure out a way to consistently perform well within their respective roles. This especially holds true for LaVine, Kris Dunn and Lauri Markkanen – the trio of players the Bulls acquired in a draft-night trade during the offseason.

Next: 2017-18 Week 16 NBA Power Rankings

The question is, how big of a role will Valentine have if and when that does come to fruition?

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