Realistic free agents for the Chicago Bulls
Fred VanVleet
Fred VanVleet is an unrestricted free agent going into the 2020-21 season, he’s an on-the-rise point guard from the state of Illinois and the home of the Chicago Bulls. From his humble start from the G-League to the bench of the Toronto Raptors and now a title with the team in 2019, what can he achieve next in his career?
As the backup point guard during the previous seasons and most notably being able to run one of the best benches the league as seen in 2018, the unit was dubbed the ‘bench mob’. This unit had one of the league’s best bench plus/minuses at +3.6 during the regular season and included VanVleet, Jakob Poeltl, Delon Wright, C.J. Miles and now All-Star Pascal Siakam.
VanVleet’s experience as a lead guard as well as playing alongside Kyle Lowry this season, as he started all 48 games he played. He has become productive both as a lead guard off the bench and an off-ball player with Lowry. VanVleet’s strengths show in his underrated but tenacious and intelligent reads on defense, this is an example from the 2019 Finals against Stephen Curry.
Fred VanVleet has been an excellent shooter in his career. Through this season Van Vleet averaged seven attempts from 3-point range per game at a clip of 38 percent, which is exactly the same percentage as his finals champion run which was criticized for being inconsistent. He’s increased his attempts as in that run he only took 4.1 during the finals, maintaining that percentage and almost doubling his shots per game.
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This shows his potential to translate to be a high frequency and efficient shooter for a team where he can be the more of a focal point or as a shooter with the Bulls.
As a point guard, he built on his strengths with his pinpoint passing in the pick and rolls with also being able to keep the ball moving in a motion play. VanVleet also can excel while shooting as well as being willing to drive. His skill set of high-IQ defense, off-ball offense and being a floor general is perfect to fit with and support Zach LaVine’s game. In the backcourt, VanVleet can speed things up on a fast-break, throwing lobs to LaVine or Carter or create offense.
Most of the Bulls’ offensive issues are with their coach Jim Boylen, as they were ranked 27th in offensive rating and also 27th in pace. Despite Boylen’s poor coaching, VanVleet would improve the on-court product substantially.
He averaged 6.6 assists as the off guard this season with Kyle Lowry running the point averaging 7.7. Looking at the Bulls assist numbers who ranked 20th in assist percentage and their team assist leader being Tomáš Satoranský with a mere 5.4 per game, it’s clear that the Bulls need a better playmaker.
With the current team around VanVleet, it’s definitely in the conversation for him to average double-digit assists if he chooses the Windy City this offseason.