Chicago Bulls: 3 biggest takeaways from Kris Dunn MCL injury

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1. Who will step up in Dunn’s absence?

When the news about Dunn’s injury was revealed, no one was more affected than Hoiberg.

"“We obviously missed Kris in our first two games. Now to have him out of the lineup for an extended period, it’s extremely difficult,” Hoiberg told the Chicago Tribune. “When you have a guy who really made strides over the course of last season and the summer he had and the way he played during training camp, it’s difficult.”"

With Dunn being out of the mix for the next few weeks, the question becomes who will emerge as the lead point guard during his absence?

Cameron Payne will be given the first opportunity. After all, the front office did deem him as the primary backup behind Dunn coming into this season, so that makes sense.

Although he didn’t play particularly well during the preseason and went scoreless in the season opener, Payne did have a solid outing against the Detroit Pistons on Oct. 20, as he chipped in 17 points, four assists and three rebounds in 28 minutes.

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Ryan Arcidiacono — who the team re-signed during the offseason — played well in the season opener against the Philadelphia 76ers, scoring eight points to go along with eight assists and four rebounds. But he’s a seen a total of just 20 minutes of action in the last two games combined.

The other pair of guards that may also figure into the equation are Tyler Ulis and Shaquille Harrsion. Ulis was released by the Phoenix Suns following two seasons in which he compiled averages of 7.6 points and 4.1 assists per contest on 40.3 percent shooting from the field.

Meanwhile, Harrison — who also spent time with the Suns last season in 23 games — struggled in four preseason games, as he averaged more turnovers per outing (2.5) than assists (2.3). While Harrison doesn’t offer much in the way of being a long range threat (23.1 percent from 3-point range last year), he does excel on the defensive end of the floor.

In fact, Harrison recorded a defensive rating of 109.5, but the Suns as a team posted a 113.5 rating, which means they were 4.5 points better per 100 possessions with him on the court. Standing at 6’4″ and armed with a long wingspan, Harrison has the potential to be Chicago’s second-best defender. That fact alone should warrant playing time at some point.

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Unfortunately, while each of these guards can be viable options for Hoiberg, none of them brings the same intangibles to the mix as Dunn. Here’s to hoping the Bulls have enough depth to keep them afloat over the next month or so and avoid another bad start, as was the case last season when they dropped 20 of their first 23 games.

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