Niko’s Numbers

Mirotic scored a season-high 20 points in the Bulls’ victory over Indiana on Monday night, and the Bulls needed all of them. Perhaps none more important than the tough step-back jumper he hit to push his team’s lead to 88-85 with 21 seconds left in the 4th quarter. Niko wasn’t on fire from downtown (3-9) but he found other ways to score. He went 3-4 from the free throw line and also converted on good looks around the basket. Yes, his specialty is supposed to be the 3 ball. But if that’s all Niko offers, defenses will adjust. He needs to become more versatile, and we’re seeing glimpses of that in his recent stretch of solid outings.

Speaking of that solid stretch, let’s take a closer look. Mirotic has scored in double figures (13.2 PPG) in five straight games since returning from his DNP benching. That’s the first such stretch for Niko since January 1-9 in the middle of last season. In those five games, he’s shooting 38.2% from deep, which is much better than his current season average of 30.8% and career average of 34.7%. During his Christmas Day interview, Bulls VP John Paxson called out Mirotic’s three point percentage for being below expectations.

“[Niko]’s shooting 30 from the 3. His mechanics as a jump shooter are too good to be shooting that percentage. I’m sure he knows that in his mind. But a lot of this game is confidence and opportunity. Fred sat him for a couple games, and he came back and had a big game for us against Detroit. He needs to keep building on that.” – John Paxson

Let’s hope the current upward trend continues.

The Little Things

And it’s not just the downtown shooting percentage. There are other noteworthy trends in Mirotic’s five games since coming back from Hoiberg’s dog house. He’s pulling down more rebounds (6.4) per game than his season average (5.8). The biggest uptick has come on the offensive glass. Niko is averaging 2.2 offensive rebounds in this stretch, more than doubling his season average of 0.9. Seeing as the Bulls have relied heavily on their dominance of second chance points this season, that’s just as big of a contribution as his increased accuracy beyond the arc.

In addition to creating extra possessions for Chicago with his rebounding, Mirotic is taking better care of the basketball. He’s cut his season average of 1.1 turnovers almost in half to 0.6 in his last five games. In 3 of those 5 games, Niko played a combined 71 minutes without committing a single turnover. That’s a huge plus for the mistake-prone pump-faker.

It’s a small sample size, but it’s a step in the right direction. Paxson and Forman have constantly told Bulls fans since his arrival in 2014 that Mirotic is going to be a big piece of this team’s young core moving forward. For most of last season and the beginning of this season, he wasn’t playing like it. But the bearded wonder is finally stringing good outings together. His teammates need it from him, and they know it.

Dwyane Wade on Niko Mirotic: "We need him to win. Simple as that. We need him to play big, and he knows we believe and trust in him." — Cody Westerlund (@CodyWesterlund) December 27, 2016

Both Paxson and Hoiberg have recently suggested that self-confidence is a big issue with Niko. When he misses his first few shots, he gets down on himself and caves. But when the shots start falling, the potential is there for scoring outbursts and clutch moments like last night’s dagger against the Pacers.

All Bulls fans can do is pray to the basketball gods that this recent stretch of improved three point accuracy and an all-around better game is a sign of things to come from ThreeKola. His confidence must remain high. If the Bulls are going to make any noise this season, they need the good version of this Jekyll-and-Hyde role player.