Bulls’ power forwards will be the key to lineup versatility in 2019–20 season
With Lauri Markkanen leading the way, Thad Young, OPJ, Kornet, and Hutch will allow Jim Boylen to get creative at the PF spot in lineups. The question is, will he?
I genuinely believe that Wendell Carter Jr. is the most important player on the Bulls. I think that Zach LaVine will be the only All-Star on the 2019–20 Bulls, but I without a doubt believe that the Bulls’ power forward group will be the strength of the team.
The key to having a deep and successful position group in today’s NBA is having the personnel to play different styles, and the 2019–20 Bulls power forward group gives Jim Boylen the opportunity to do just that.
1. Who is Jim Boylen’s likely starter at the position?
Lauri Markkanen is going to start at power forward for the Bulls in his third season in the NBA, which should be a pretty big Year 3. He will finally have at least a little bit of familiarity with majority of his starting lineup. Unfortunately, we still haven’t seen the Otto Porter Jr.-Zach LaVine-Wendell Carter Jr. trio playing next to Markkanen, so that will be the most important lineup to watch as it obviously has long-term implications.
2. Who should start?
Again, the obvious answer here is Markkanen. So rather than do something useless like arguing starting Thad over Lauri (Editor’s note: Who would argue this?), I will discuss what “Lauri Legend” needs to work on to make the All-Star leap that has been discussed so much.
Markkanen handled a larger share of the offense last season (25.1% usage per Basketball-Reference) while maintaining the same level of offensive efficiency and on the other end of the floor, improved on his defensive rebound rate (up to 25.9%).
With Robin Lopez out the door, the Bulls will have some slack to make up in terms of boxing out on the defensive glass. Lopez was second on the team (to Carter) with 6.7 boxouts per game. Markkanen was at 3.6 boxouts per game, a figure we will have to see increase dramatically if he is indeed going to play more minutes at center and make the All-Star leap. Lauri grabbed 0.6 rebounds per boxout, so you can see how an increase in boxouts will lead to more rebounds, helping him get closer to becoming a double-double machine.
Keep in mind last season Markkanen averaged 18.7 points and 9.0 rebounds per game. Only seven players averaged at least 18 points and 10 rebounds per game last season and all of them were 2019 All-Stars.
3. Who should be the primary backup?
The clear answer here is Thaddeus Young but you need to include Otto Porter Jr. when discussing the Bulls PF rotation.
Porter played 36% of his minutes at the four last season and despite the Bulls being thin on the wings, he will play a decent amount of power forward again if the Bulls truly commit to playing faster.
There were two lineups featuring Porter playing power forward that I took note of. One lineup was Arcidiacono-LaVine-Selden-Markkanen and the other lineup was the same with Robin Lopez in place of Markkanen. The Porter-Markkanen lineup had +8.3 Net Rating and the Porter-Lopez frontcourt had a +25 Net Rating, both in very limited minutes. The key with both of these lineups was that their pace was above 103 (possessions), which would’ve ranked in the Top 5 over the course of a full season.
Porter will help the Bulls push the pace, get up shots from the 3-point line, and guard the best forwards in the league, which is where Thaddeus Young comes in.
Young was 10th among power forwards in ESPN’s RPM (1.89 RPM), with the majority of his value coming from his contributions on defense. He has the physical tools to be a great defender but it is the high level at which he thinks the game that makes him so great. Young has been in the league for over a decade and he quickly soaks up any coaches’ concepts and can help his teammates understand them.
This alone will benefit a Bulls team that has a defense-first head coach who hasn’t proven much but has had little in the way of great defensive personnel in his brief stint. With Young’s activity level on defense (123 steals over 81 games last season) the Bulls can play Markkanen or a specialist like Luke Kornet (36%)at center, knowing there is a veteran on the floor who can provide help down low and still scramble back to their man. Young is excellent at shuffling side-to-side on D and has even shown the ability to hang with reigning MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo for stretches.
Young — as he goes over in the video above — understood that rather than looking to rack up blocks, his job was to play his man towards his weak hand and funnel him into the Pacers’ rim protection. He will bring that same attention to detail to Chicago, which will greatly help Wendell Carter Jr. and the Bulls overall team defense improve. This is why Thad Young will be the backup PF for the Bulls and he is a good candidate to be the team’s 6th man all season.
4. Confidence meter (scale of 1–10): 8.5
I wanted to give a 9 here but I acknowledge that it is too soon to say the Bulls have an elite power forward group, which I feel a “9” would represent. The 8.5 is a bit of a hedge here. The Bulls’ power forwards will be strong with Young and Porter (and possibly Kornet) providing a solid combination of defense and — to a lesser extent for Young — shooting.
I like the Young addition the most because he is one of the few players in the league that can do a decent job guarding hyper-athletic marvels like Giannis Antetekounmpo, but the steady progression of Markkanen is what gives me confidence that the Bulls’ frontcourt will produce big-time during the 2019–20 season.
