Chicago Bulls: Evaluating lineup change experiment

Noah Vonleh

The Bulls acquired Noah Vonleh and cash from the Portland Trail Blazers, whose primary reason for making the trade was to get below the luxury tax threshold. In exchange, the Bulls renounced their rights to Milovan Rakovic.

Vonleh, who was taken at the No. 9 spot in the 2014 NBA Draft, hasn’t made much of an impact in three NBA seasons. Prior to the trade, Vonleh’s averages in 30 games with the Trail Blazers included 3.6 points and 5.1 rebounds in 14 minutes per contest.

In 10 appearances for the Bulls, Vonleh is averaging 5.6 points and 5.2 rebounds per contest on shooting splits of .438/.364/.500. His best outing took place in the team’s win over the Memphis Grizzlies on March 7.

In that contest, Vonleh scored nine points on 3-for-5 shooting from the field and converted two of his three attempts from beyond the arc in 13 minutes of action. On the plus side, Vonleh has shown flashes of being a good rebounder, as he has posted four games in which he pulled down at l least seven boards.

On the other hand, with Lauri Markkanen and Bobby Portis firmly entrenched at the 4-spot, Vonleh probably doesn’t have a future with the team beyond this season, and even if the Bulls did decide to keep him, his role would be very limited.