When Will Bulls Big Marko Simonovic Be Ready For The NBA?
An Honest Conversation About The Development of Chicago’s 2nd Year Big.
When will Marko Simonovic be ready for the NBA?
It is the question that is on the minds of many Bulls fans as they take in Chicago’s Summer League action. Simonovic — a polarizing (among Bulls fans) 2nd year forward — has shown flashes of the high-motor difference maker he was projected to be but nowhere near enough to see him being a real rotation player for the Bulls.
If you’re reading this, you are definitely someone who has heard the phrase: “Summer League doesn’t matter.”
That simply isn’t true. Yes, Summer League doesn’t matter long-term because it is a random slew of games in July…but film is film. While these games and the outcomes aren’t important, we can still look at a prospect’s process and make astute observations.
When you are trying to project to the NBA level, a prospect’s failures in Summer League are almost more important than their successes, as the talent level is so much lower than the talent pool they will face in the big leagues. With all of this in mind, at Bulls Confidential we decided to breakdown some of Marko’s recent Summer League performances — both good and bad — to point where he is as a prospect and perhaps more importantly, where his development seems to be headed.
Marko burst onto the 2022 Summer League scene with a huge first game. He compiled a hard-earned 27 point, 13-rebound double-double in a narrow 100–99 win over the Dallas Mavericks.
Before I get to what Marko does well, I will answer the titular question “When will Marko Simonovic be ready for the NBA?” Personally…I believe it will take another full season before Simonovic is even remotely close to contributing to an NBA rotation. That means he would be ready to help by the 2023–24 season at the earliest (in my humble opinion).
The first obvious strength of Marko’s is one that has been touted since he joined the Bulls: his ability to run the floor. It may sound underwhelming at first but when you see it in action, Simonovic’s hustle is impressive if not admirable.
When Simonovic piled up 27 points against Dallas in the Bulls first summer league game, it was in large part because of his six offensive rebounds. Simonovic breaks into a full sprint once the ball clears the rim…every time. The clip below illustrates how Marko gets a decent chunk of his offense at the moment.
Simonovic is tough to project at the NBA level because he doesn’t have a true position. Though he is tall, he doesn’t quite yet have the bulk — even after adding muscle to his frame this offseason — to stand against most NBA centers…or at least, the good ones. More importantly, Simonovic has yet to show the ability to consistently knock down the 3-point shot at any level. He shot 26% from 3-point range in the G-League last season and never was a strong shooter in international competitions either. But Marko’s lack of 3-point shooting doesn’t stop him from being efficient, it’s just that most of his work is done in the paint.
This means Marko definitely projects as a center moving forward. At this early, early stage of his career he projects to be a hard-working backup center who offers a strong presence in terms of screening and rebounding.
One thing that bodes well for Simonovic is that he does have a fairly strong basketball-IQ with particularly good mismatch recognition. In the Bulls recent 93–83 summer league win over the Raptors, Simonovic was relatively quiet with 7 points (3–6 FG), 3 rebounds and 3 assists and 1 turnover in 18 minutes. He continued to run the floor hard against Toronto and showcased in one particular clip how effective he can be when he gets a quick seal on a smaller defender.
In the clip below Simonovic sprints down the floor and gets proper post position on 6-foot-7 Dalano Banton. Simonovic stands 6-foot-11, so he quickly goes to a hook shot for a simple but important (for his career moving forward) bucket.
As long as Simonovic continues to get stronger, his constant screening will eventually lead to plenty of mismatches for him against switching defenses. Without many ways to score in the halfcourt, Simonovic will simply need to be able to score over smaller defenders in the post and get to the free throw line off of his offensive rebounds.
The several assists that Marko racked up were solid and showcased the basketball-IQ I mentioned above. The play below is a rudimentary read but nonetheless and important one.
In the clip below, when Marko feels a double team from the top of the key, he instantly sprays the ball out to the open shooter for a clean 3-point look.
This is excellent as it shows his ability to make a quick read on offense. The problem is Simonovic is almost certain to never see a double-team at the NBA-level, which leads back to his real offensive role: simply screening hard and being active around the basket. When trying to project Marko’s NBA future, the offense hardly bothers you as much as the clear-cut defensive deficiencies do.
At 6-foot-11 and 240 lbs., you would definitely want Simonovic to be a rim protector capable of taking over for Nikola Vucevic at times. But for as much flak as Vooch can get, his is a great positional defender. He is quite strong, doesn’t budge in the low post and does a mostly decent job of containing guards in the pick-and-roll. Vucevic’s issue is he offers you no scheme versatility on defense as he can’t be an effective switch defender. But as far as standing near the rim and being a deterrent…you can certainly do a lot worse than Vucevic. Which brings us back to Marko Simonovic.
Even with the added muscle, Marko doesn’t seem capable of denying physical guards at the basket. In the clip below, he goes straight up with great verticality to contest a shot by Mavericks rookie Jaden Hardy. The problem is that despite taking a bump from Simonovic, the 6-foot-4, 200-lb. Hardy has no issues finishing through the contact.
The athletic Hardy is a great representation of the type of guards Simonovic would be meeting at the rim at the NBA level. And if the Mavericks summer league game was any indication, Marko would have an immense amount of trouble protecting the rim in the NBA.
The added muscle Marko put on this offseason put him at 240 lbs. But even with that bulk he had trouble at times in the post against Mavericks 6-foot-8 forward Moses Wright.
Simonovic has a long way to go but his attitude will go a long way towards extending his NBA career. Marko is a very, very positive player and he is a great cheerleader on the bench. That stuff matters in a more-dramatic-by-the-day NBA. But at the end of the day, Marko will need to produce at some point and soon to continue to have a roster spot on the Bulls.
Simonovic’s contract is non-guaranteed next offseason at $1.8 million per Spotrac. My prediction would be that if Marko Simonovic has a solid G-League season with the Windy City Bulls, you will see his contract get guaranteed by the July 7, 2023 deadline. However, if Simonovic struggles, it would be tough to see him making it past this season with the amount of intriguing young players the Bulls front office are keeping around.
