Steps the Chicago Bulls must take to reach the playoffs in 2021

Give Kris Dunn a defined role or move on from him

When the Bulls decided it was time to move on from Jimmy Butler and embrace a rebuild in June of 2017, they acquired two future cornerstones of the franchise, Zach LaVine and Lauri Markkanen. They also acquired Kris Dunn. While Dunn has had his moments in Chicago, he hasn’t developed into one of the building blocks of the future for the franchise.

Next season, the Bulls must either move on from Dunn or make it clear that he will be a full-time backup. Last season, he appeared in 51 games and started 32 of them. It’s not that Dunn isn’t a decent NBA player when he’s healthy. It’s that you can’t be a decent NBA team if he’s your starting point guard.

This past season, Dunn shot a career-low 25.9 percent from 3-point land and his average of 7.3 points per game was the lowest since his rookie season. In today’s NBA, point guards must be a dual-threat to score or make plays for other guys on the team.

With Dunn struggling to shoot from deep and lacking the ability to create his own shot at will, he’s not the right fit for a young team trying to take the next step forward, no matter how great he is defensively.