Chicago Bulls: Noting the 3 best things from the season

3. Kris Dunn becoming a legitimate defensive stud

Since coming over in the Jimmy Butler trade, Kris Dunn has always worn the defense-first label. It doesn’t mean he was always the type of defensive-first point guard he was billed to be.

Solid defender? Potentially. Elite defender? Not even close. In 2018-19, Dunn posted a 113.7 defensive rating. An illustration of how bad that number was – it was worse than Jabari Parker (111.2), Lauri Markkanen (112.3) and even Zach LaVine (112.4). Shoot, even James Harden posted a 110.3 defensive rating that season. It doesn’t mean those players were better defenders than Dunn but just shows that he wasn’t at his defensive best that season.

Fast forward to this season. With pressure mounting on the young point guard to prove to the Chicago Bulls and the NBA that he belonged and he had to carve his own niche role. Considered largely to be a disappointment and the subject of constant trade rumors during the offseason, the fourth-year guard from Providence rose to the occasion.

After losing his starting gig to Tomas Satoransky to start the season, Dunn didn’t pout. Instead, he became the ball-hawking lead guard he was expected to be. That hideous defensive rating shrunk from 113.7 to 103.6 this season. Only Shaquille Harrison has a better rating this season, though he’s only averaging 11.3 minutes per game.

When healthy, Dunn spearheaded one of the league’s more improved defenses – the Bulls lead the league in steals per game with 10.0 per game, a full 1.2 steals ahead of the second-place Toronto Raptors. The former Minnesota Timberwolves lottery pick was averaging 2.0 steals per game, second only to Ben Simmons‘ 2.1 per game, albeit in 10.8 fewer minutes per game.

Kris Dunn certainly has his deficiencies, but his defensive prowess revived his career and could make him a valuable long-term Chicago Bull once the NBA tips off again.