RJ Barrett could be a great fit on the Bulls…..here’s why

The polarizing prospect out of Duke had an amazing freshman season but showed enough holes in his game to cast doubt on his NBA future.

So you’re reading this piece, which I will assume makes you a Chicago Bulls fan or an NBA fan who cares about the prospects entering the league in the 2019 draft. And whichever camp you fall into, there is a high chance that you have heard a ton of great stuff about breakout star Ja Morant at Murray State, and how is the obvious №2 prospect in the 2019 class. I strongly disagree with this and still have polarizing Duke wing RJ Barrett as my №2 prospect.

And unless Morant grows three-to-four inches before draft day, my top 2 prospects will stay Zion Williamson followed by Barrett.

Because of Barrett’s over reliance on “hero-ball” — also known as being a ballhog or a gunner — and overpowering his opponents, it is easy to dismiss him as an impact prospect.

And when you factor in the presence of Zach LaVine on the Bulls, he would seem like the worst possible fit in Chicago, and you, the reader, have probably heard something to that effect before.

Well, I’m here to tell you that anything you’ve heard probably comes with some assumption of what Barrett is, rather than sifting through the numbers to see what he will become.

RJ Barrett would be a perfect fit for the Bulls, and the reasoning is simple: he is the ideal primary ball handler/creator to play next to LaVine. Take into account these two quotes from ESPN NBA Draft analyst Mike Schmitz.

“Because of his competitive nature he does some of the little things you don’t always see from star player.” “Barrett is at his best functioning as a jumbo lead guard…..although wired to score has vision in the open court locating shooters and cutters alike.”

Barrett’s playmaking ability should be the first point of discussion anytime he is discussed as a prospect.

But, the fact that he took 267 more shots than teammate Zion Williamson is quite concerning. To play devil’s advocate, we don’t know if Coach K was instructing Barrett to shoot this much, possibly to take advantage of Williamson awesome ability as an offensive rebounder.

There is also the fact that Barrett played 351 minutes more than Zion due to the latter’s injury absence over a six-game span. So, coming into the NBA knowing he will have teammates much more talented than Marques Bolden, Jack White, or even Cam Reddish for that matter, it safe to assume Barrett is prepared to take less than 18 shots per game.

So going back to Schmitz’ statement about Barrett functioning at his best as a “jumbo guard”. The idea of pairing Kristofer Dunn and Zach LaVine in the backcourt, was that Dunn’s defense would be a perfect compliment to LaVine, who obviously would guard the lesser of the two backcourt players.

But Dunn is still prone to fouling a bunch, and his offensive game hasn’t progressed to the point where he is a legit scoring threat. The fact that Dunn provides a low value on offense puts a ton pressure on LaVine. The added floor-spacing that came along with Otto Porter Jr. helped LaVine and Lauri Markkanen grow, but adding a scoring threat in Dunn’s place would open up things even more.

The main disagreement with the idea of Barrett helping the Bulls offense is that his poor free throw shooting (66.5 percent) and subpar 3-point shooting (30.8 percent) won’t afford him much offensive gravity, AKA, defenses won’t pay attention to him when he doesn’t have the ball. But Barrett’s jump shot form itself doesn’t look mechanically broken, and he certainly isn’t afraid to take them, launching 6.2 3PA per game.

And that willingness to take jump shots is what makes me confident in his ability to rely less on “bully ball”, and more on creating separation to score at the NBA level.

Opposing coaches at the pro level will instruct defenders to go under the screen on Barrett. That in turn will give him plenty of opportunities to explore his off the dribble jumper in the pick-and-roll game. And he can work on building up a head of steam on drives similar to Ben Simmons when defenses go under screens on him. Ultimately defenses will continue to clog passing lanes with Barrett on the floor, unless he can approach 35 percent from deep.

With NBA coaching and training, I believe that to be an attainable goal for Barrett.

Assuming Jim Boylen will be the coach at the start of next season, the Bulls will continue to emphasize “getting downhill” on offense, meaning a player that is effective at getting straight-line dribble drive penetration.

Barrett fits this to a tee. He is a bit of a rigid athlete who plays with “high hips”, allowing defenders to stay with him horizontally on drives and prohibiting his ability to prevent drives on the other end, but when given a seam to attack he can be devastating.

He shot an elite 64.4 percent at the rim with a majority of his shots coming from that area of the floor. His 36.9 percent shooting on 2-point jumpers is concerning, but with NBA floor spacing, Barrett will hopefully settle for jumpers at a lower level.

Everyone says every in college would be better with NBA floor spacing, which is true, but it is about how you use that space. Barrett was often on the floor with Cam Reddish (33.8 percent), Alex O’ Connell (37.5 percent from 3-point range but only 14 minutes per game) and Jack White — who had one of the worst shooting slumps of all time — as his only floor spacers on the floor.

With Lauri Markkanen providing plenty offensive gravity in the pick-and-game, Barrett will be able to unleash his full arsenal of moves at the rim. At the college level, Barrett was able to score 30 points five times this season while often having to pull up short of the rim for floaters and awkward layup attempts.

Even with all that, Barrett racked up 22.6 points per game on a 50.3 percent effective field goal percentage, which is close to league average for a wing. He can succeed on the Bulls as a lead guard because it already set up for him to do so.

Among the Bulls starters, only LaVine, Markkanen and Kris Dunn have usage percentages above 20 percent, meaning that they are (rightfully) using up the lion’s share of the possessions on offense. Chicago needs a primary creator to plug into Dunn’s spot and that player doesn’t have to be a player 6-foot-5 or shorter.

Take Dunn’s possessions on offense and give them to Barrett — he of the 23.5 percent assist rate, 64.4 percent shooting at the rim, 30.8 percent 3-point range — and try to bring down his sky-high turnover rate.

Barrett’s combination of finishing and passing on offense will make him a valuable player he if can use 6-foot-7, 202 lb. frame to play at least passable defense. He wasn’t great navigating screens on defense, something that would have to improve under Boylen.

Barrett will come into the league and do several things well from the start. He will grab defensive rebounds, initiate offense and finish well in the pick-and-roll when going to his left. But that means that until he develops his his game further, he will be a solid secondary creator with some defensive and jump shooting upside.

But if Barrett was empowered in year one like Ben Simmons as a point guard, his physical advantages — the primary thing he has used to dominate throughout his career to this point — would be put to much better use on a nightly basis. There is obviously a strong case to be made that Ja Morant is the best fit for Chicago as a traditional, ball-dominant guard, but if the Bulls were to end up with Barrett, LaVine would further flourish with the ball primarily in his hands. And on defense a lineup with everyone being 6-foot-5 or taller would give the team a tremendous about of defensive versatility, which is a must for any team hoping to get a taste of playoff basketball.

RJ Barrett becoming a primary ball handler on the Bulls isn’t a home run solution to their lack of production at the point guard spot, but it certainly is a solid and creative option. Look no further than the Sixers (albeit thin) rotation to get a look at how the Bulls could look structure the minutes of role players around a Barrett-LaVine backcourt. With solid cap space in tow, the Bulls don’t need to get their franchise point guard out of this draft, though of course it would be excellent if they could. But if the Bulls get a pick in the ’19 draft in he №3 or lower range, Barrett easily provides the best high-upside, home run option for a franchise that has already hit enough singles.