Chicago Bulls: 5 takeaways from 2017-18 NBA season

3. Lauri Markkanen exceeded expectations

Following his lone collegiate season with the Arizona Wildcats, Lauri Markkanen was considered to be one of the gifted shooters in the 2017 NBA Draft. Initially, the goal was to bring Markkanen along slowly and ease him into the rotation.

Thanks to the preseason altercation between Bobby Portis and Nikola Mirotic, though, the Bulls were forced to scrap that plan and Markkanen was immediately inserted into the starting lineup.

How well did Markkanen fare in this unexpected larger role? Very well, to say the least.

He became the fastest player in NBA history to knock down 100 3-pointers, doing so in 41 games. To put this stat in its proper perspective, it took two-time MVP Stephen Curry 58 games and former sharpshooter Ray Allen 76 games to accomplish the feat in their first NBA seasons.

Although he had developed a reputation as being a solid outside shooter, during the course of the season, Markkanen proved he was not a one-trick pony.

From a statistical standpoint, Markkanen is the Bulls’ second-leading scorer with 15.2 points per contest and he is the team’s top rebounder with 7.5 boards per outing. Although his shooting numbers (43.4 percent overall and 36.2 percent from beyond the arc) fluctuated a bit during the season, Markkanen didn’t have too much difficulty getting off his shots, even during stretches when he was the primary scoring option on the floor.

Oh, and one other tidbit worth noting is Markkanen became just the fourth rookie in Bulls history to score 1,000 points and pull down 500 rebounds. The others on the list include Michael Jordan, David Greenwood and Elton Brand.

All in all, the Bulls have to be excited about how well Markkanen played during his rookie season and as long as he continues to improve, he certainly has the potential to become an All-Star caliber player.