Despite being in his second NBA season, Chicago Bulls guard Kris Dunn wants to step up and be a leader as the team embarks on its final 19 games of the 2017-18 campaign.
Following the All-Star break, the Chicago Bulls announced that lineup changes would be forthcoming. In layman’s terms, the front office decided it was time to go in the direction of tanking, or should I say, “player development.”
The Bulls began the process by removing both Robin Lopez and Justin Holiday from the lineup in favor of Cristiano Felicio and David Nwaba.
As expected, very little has gone right in light of the lineup changes. For starters, the Bulls have dropped five of their last six games. On top of that, they are allowing 110.8 points per contest during that stretch, and four of their previous six opponents have converted at least 48 percent of their shot attempts.
The most recent setback is the one that has head coach Fred Hoiberg beside himself. A couple of nights ago, the Bulls hosted the Boston Celtics, who were playing without Kyrie Irving. The last time the two teams met at the United Center when Irving was out the lineup, the Bulls coasted to an easy victory.
This time around, though, it was a completely different story. Before the fans could even get into their seats, the Celtics had raced out to a 25-6 lead en route to an easy 105-89 victory. Please don’t let the margin of victory fool you, as the final score wasn’t nearly indicative enough of how the Celtics dominated the home team in nearly every facet of the game.
Sure, the Bulls have been without two of their veteran players in Lopez and Holiday, but Hoiberg isn’t ready to use that as an excuse for the team’s poor showing.
"“You need somebody to step up,” Hoiberg told the Chicago Tribune.” You can use the excuse that our two best [leadership] guys as far as Robin and Justin are not in the lineup and we’ve gotten off to horrendous starts without those guys in there. But somebody has to take the ownership and be the leader and pull guys together when things aren’t going well.”"
Hoiberg also went on to say that the players basically folded and that someone needs to emerge as a leader when adversity hits. No one can blame Hoiberg for seething, especially when one of your reserves – Denzel Valentine – led the team in scoring with 20 points in that forgettable loss.
While both Lopez and Holiday are set to return to the rotation, there is another player who is hoping to take on more of a leadership role. The player in question is Kris Dunn.
Although Dunn has just one full NBA season under his belt, to say he has played well for the Bulls this year would be an understatement. Aside from the fact that his numbers are significantly better compared to his rookie season, the Bulls are a different team when Dunn is out of the lineup.
One piece of evidence to support this assertion is the fact that the Bulls were 14-7 with Dunn during a 21-game stretch from early December to mid-January that saw them win seven straight following a 10-game skid. Over the next 11 games that Dunn missed due to a concussion, the Bulls produced only three wins.
With that in mind, it makes perfect sense why Dunn is more than willing to assume a larger role.
"‘‘I’ve got to be the leader of the group because I play the point guard position,” Dunn told the Chicago Sun-Times. “It’s my job to get everybody in the right position. It’s my job to make sure everybody’s competing and playing hard each and every minute on the floor. These next [19] games, I’m definitely going to pick it up from there.’’"
Next: 2018 NBA Draft - Early March Mock Draft
This is definitely good news for a Bulls squad that is still in search of its identity.