NBA: Ranking 30 best power forwards for 2019-20

There’s an awful lot to like about Lauri Markkanen of the Chicago Bulls. He’s 7-feet and 240 pounds with the perimeter skills of a wing player, but with the size to put up 20 double-doubles in just 52 games last season.

On the flip side of that, Markkanen appeared in just 52 games last season as he missed the first 23 games recovering from a sprained right elbow and was sidelined the final seven with what was termed as extreme fatigue, per NBC Sports Chicago last spring.

As far as last season went, Markkanen showed an increase in his counting stats along with a corresponding increase in minutes, but his efficiency was virtually unchanged from his rookie year in 2017-18.

That’s not a particularly promising sign when looking at a young player as a second-year leap is to be expected, particularly from a lottery pick. Markkanen turned 22 in May, however, so it’s not like there isn’t time for him to take a leap forward.

He averaged 18.7 points and 9.0 rebounds in 32.3 minutes per game, shooting 43.0 percent overall and 36.1 percent on 6.4 3-point attempts per game. As a rookie, he shot 43.4 percent and 36.2 percent on 5.9 deep tries a night, so there wasn’t any real progress there.

Markkanen got worse as a finisher as well, going from 67.6 percent to 62.4 percent in the restricted area, even as he improved from 34.3 percent to 43.4 percent from three to 10 feet.

Still, there was no questioning his impact to the Bulls, who played 5.0 points better per 100 possessions with their stretch big on the court.

The Bulls will also have the ability to go gigantic at times this season should they want to run Markkanen and Thaddeus Young at the same time, which could be a fit for defenses.