Didn't expect to make another post today, but here we go. The Bulls continued to make things happen today, and they're looking pretty good in a Summer League game right now too. Anyway, the two big things as far as personnel goes is that they have made it official that Mirotic is coming over, and they have brought Kirk Hinrich back for another 2 years.
As far as Hinrich goes, there's nothing really new about that. The deal is reportedly a 2 year deal worth $5.5 million, so it's a pretty cheap deal for a good backup point guard that brings the intangibles that he brings, but it was well known that he wanted to remain with the Bulls. Still, as far as his quality of play goes, he's a very solid backup. He plays very good defense, and he can at least keep an offense organized, even if he does occasionally shoot the ball too much. Still, he's an excellent veteran to have around, regardless of his skill. Having him around for another couple of years should be nice. I do have a feeling that will be the end of it for him though.
The one thing I will say is a negative about the Hinrich signing is that it makes me feel like the Bulls should make sure to have at least one more point guard on the roster. At this point I just don't feel like Hinrich can be counted on to last an entire season, and with the current roster, the next guy behind him is probably Tony Snell. When I say one more point guard, I'm talking about a point guard who can play at an NBA level already. Only after that would they bring along someone like a Billy Baron or someone like that.
The other big news right now is that Nikola Mirotic has reportedly agreed to a 3 year, $17 million contract to come to the Bulls. That's a bit lower than I think some fans expected, as I remember hearing some say that the Bulls would need to pay him at least $8 million per season to come over. Well, they're over $2 million lower per season here. Mirotic could potentially be a star, or of course, he could bust as an NBA player, there's too little that we know about him right now. However, having actually seen him play (on television, of course), he looked to me like a quiet scorer. You didn't really notice him, but suddenly he'll have put up 10 points in 5 minutes of action. I don't know where the Toni Kukoc comparisons really come from. I mean, he's a skilled big man, but other than that his game doesn't resemble Kukoc very much. Kukoc was more of an offensive facilitator who could hit the three. I see Mirotic as someone who can facilitate, but I see him as much more of a scorer than Kukoc was, and probably a better shooter too. Only time will really tell though, Kukoc is one of my favorite Bulls ever, so if he is like Kukoc, I won't mind, but he just doesn't really remind me of him. I see him more in the mold of Peja Stojakovic before the injuries set in. Hopefully he has better defense though, but from what I understand, defense isn't the best part of his game. You can see some older scouting reports here and here. From what I can see, he has shown great improvement since being drafted.
Today's Summer League game just ended, and the Bulls won in blowout fashion. After falling behind by 10 early on, the Bulls would go on from there to outscore the Nuggets 102-65 (the Bulls had been down 11-1, so the final score was 103-76). There was a clear strategy with the team today, and that was to shoot as many 3's as possible. This strategy worked out as they shot 19-36 from 3. Doug McDermott has a massive game, scoring 31 points on 7-12 from the field, 5-9 from 3. Tony Snell found himself scoring another 23 points himself. Lazeric Jones had himself 12 points, including 2-2 from 3. Austin Freeman had himself a 14 point night himself.
Beyond the stat sheet, I noticed a few more things. First off, Doug McDermott has a very good offensive game and plays a very smart offensive game. On defense he doesn't look nearly as bad as some people try to say. He does a solid job of staying in front of his man, and he contests jumpers well. I was really pleasantly surprised while watching him. He also does a great job at getting to the free throw line. Second round pick Cameron Bairstow also impressed me. One downside is that I can see him as a guy who gets himself into foul trouble early in his career, but he looks like he can be a very tough defender. He's very strong and can man up very well down low. As for his offensive game, he can get the putback, but he also has a very nice looking jumper, so the reports of him having good touch out to 15 feet seem to be true. Billy Baron looked pretty good running the offense too, this time not scoring as much and racking up 6 assists in 16 minutes.
It's easy to be impressed with a near 30 point win, but it's clear the Bulls are looking for shooting, and the guys currently on the Summer League roster look like they really know how to shoot the ball.
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