How Trae Young Would Fit with the 2018–19 Chicago Bulls

Trae Young had one of the more memorable college basketball seasons in recent history. He became the first player to lead the nation in points and assists per game. This insane feat that immediately made me think of Hall of Famer “Tiny” Nate Archibald, who achieved the same amazing feat at the NBA level in 1973.

The similarities don’t stop at crazy statistical seasons either. Young is listed at six-feet-two-inches and Tiny was listed at a diminutive six-feet-one-inch tall. But while Archibald relied on speed and creativity ahead of his time, Young uses change of pace and otherworldly shooting to dominate.

The Archibald comparison was where I wanted to start because though the game has changed a ton, it still highlights a key point. And that point is that Young CAN succeed at the NBA level despite his size. In today’s reaction-based society, it is easy to highlight why a prospect will fail. But it takes actually a bit of digging to see why/how a prospect can succeed. Interestingly enough, it did not take much searching to see how Young would fit with the 2018–19 Bulls.

Starting at 3:35 in the above video, Young receives the ball in the backcourt, gets his defender leaning torwards the screener with a wicked gather-dribble and crossover, and then as he makes his drive to the rim…..all five Baylor defenders are looking at him and packing the paint. And he still gets off a crafty layup attempt and draws a foul.

Plays like the one above are precisely what he would do as a member of the Chicago Bulls. The pace he plays with lends itself well to the drag screen, a play Hoiberg likes his teams to execute often. With Lauri Markkanen setting a drag screen, teams first and foremost want to take away Markkanen’s 3-point shot. But with (my favorite Bull) Kris Dunn often being the handler, teams would simply go under the screen to prevent dribble-drive penetration and force Dunn to take his — much improved but nowhere near maximized— jump shot.

Dunn finished this past season with a 48.8 percent true shooting percentage, just over a full 10 percentage points lower than Young’s NCAA true shooting percentage.

But that is not to say Young’s selection would mean the end of Dunn. Part of the reason Young would fit so well with Chicago is that he and Dunn would form an intriguing one-two punch in the backcourt. Young’s main weakness is his defense, but not for a lack of trying. He often struggled with bigger, very physical match ups. At the NBA Combine Young measured at just over six-feet tall without shoes on, with a six-foot-three-inch wingspan.

Compare that to Dunn’s six-foot-nine-inch wingspan and it is clear that there are many players Dunn can guard that Young would have zero-chance of containing.

But the fit doesn’t stop at the defensive end of the floor. Dunn had the highest usage percentage of any Bulls starter last season (24.7 percent),and Hoiberg was very comfortable handing him the keys to the offense. Many Bulls fans would expect a Trae Young selection on draft night to be an indicator that the United Center would see a ton of pull-up 3-pointers in 2019. But I think it would mean quite the opposite.

Consider this great quote from Bjorn Zetterberg on Cleaningtheglass.com:

And while he [Young] didn’t take many shots off the pass, he hit 38% of his catch-and-shoot jumpers from typical NBA three-point range (14-for-37).

Allowing Dunn to continue his lead ballhandler duties while running Young off of screens would give the Bulls an high-powered, perimeter-oriented attack when you consider the other floor-spacers Hoiberg could put around the two guards. And despite the Bulls being what I can only describe as “sucky” during most of the year, they finished in the top 10 in 3-point attempts and makes. Their percentage wasn’t as high as it should’ve been because of the amount of players who had no business chucking….chucking.

But altogether, Chicago had six players shoot over 35 percent from the 3-point line in 2017–18(not including Niko Mirotic). A lineup of Young-Dunn-Justin Holiday-Bobby Portis-Markkanen would provide an interesting combination of floor-spacing and just enough defense that could work for extended stretches (by the way, my strategy with the above lineup would be switch all screens not involving Young).

But nothing is EVER simple with the Chicago Bulls. The pending return of Zach LaVine makes drafting any high-usage, offensive-minded player a possible exercise in futility. LaVine has never shown the capability to play defense at even an average level (for real though..), and this was BEFORE he possibly had a near max-contract coming his way. But he and Young could be an explosive scoring duo on par with Portland’s Damian Lillard-CJ McCollum combo. Hoiberg is smart enough (for real though..) to mix-match lineups to maximize effectiveness. David Nwaba could inject some much-needed defense into Young-LaVine lineups.

Robin Lopez is still a high-IQ interior defender who would be a perfect backline defense complement to Young. And again, in an ideal world, Dunn and LaVine would build actual chemistry as a starting backcourt, allowing Young to come in as a “super substitution” off the bench.

Of course, Young could thrive in a sixth man role since his defensive deficiencies wouldn’t be on display as much. But that could upset Bobby Portis, who has made it known that he wants to be Sixth Man of the Year this upcoming season. And #Bullsnation knows what can happen when Portis gets angry….you wouldn’t like him when he’s angry. However, my last point is that whether or not Young would work on- or off-ball, he has shown the ability to keep his teammates involved while still creating his own offense, something every Bulls guard currently on the roster has struggled to do.

Denzel Valentine is a career 37.4 3-point shooter with decent passing skills (3.6 assist per 36 minutes), but a lack of explosiveness or defensive ability. But with the attention that Young draws, combined with Markkanen and LaVine’s presence, Valentine is the type of player who could be taking wide-open 3-pointers for at least 82 games straight year-in, year-out.

Critics will point to Trae Young’s lack of defensive ability as a reason to stay away from him on draft night. But his ability to heavily boost the offensive potential of players who also struggle on the defensive end of the floor means that Young adds the potential for your team to outscore opponents with a flurry of perimeter activity (helloooooo modern NBA!). His college offensive rating was 114.7, so I know Hoiberg would like his fit (enough to dance) on a Bulls team that — despite priding itself on 3-pointers and pace — finished 28th in the league with an offensive rating of 103.7.