With last year’s advent of the “two-way” contract, it’s time to ask how the Chicago Bulls can best use these unique deals in their rebuild.

The Chicago Bulls, despite John Paxson’s words at the start of this season, are still firmly entrenched in a rebuild. Young players have received a litany of opportunities, from familiar and exciting faces, like Lauri Markkanen and Zach LaVine, to rotation pieces like Cristiano Felicio and Antonio Blakeney, who have yet to truly break through. While some of these names are associated with promise and potential, most have been disappointing at best — a definite problem for a team trying to find its way back to a playoff berth and an eventual Finals appearance.

One recent measure that has made finding talent easier across the league has been the advent of two-way contracts. While the legalese for these contracts can be exhausting to read, it boils down to this:

Each team gets 2 two-way spots in addition to the allotted 15 regular roster spots.

Two-way players (TWP’s) can spend 45 days of the season with the big league team. That means games, practices, film study, etc.

TWP’s are paid G-League salaries for every day spent with the G-League team and NBA vet minimum salaries for every day spent with the NBA team.

Blakeney found himself on a two-way contract during last season, spending spot minutes with the Chicago Bulls while positively torching the G-League. Unfortunately, in just their second year, the Windy City Bulls could not find a winning groove to complement Blakeney’s massive scoring numbers. While he won Rookie of the Year, the G-League Bulls won just 24 of their 52 games.

In the middle of Blakeney’s historic season, where he led the G-League in scoring average with 32 points per game, he played 19 games in the NBA, averaging 16.5 minutes a game. During that period, he amassed a Box Plus-Minus of -6.8 and a Player Impact Plus-Minus of -1.36, good for 485th and 364th in the league, respectively. That’s among all players who played even a minute of NBA action — 540 players. Among players who played 300+ minutes last year, Blakeney’s BPM ranked 2nd worst, behind only Derrick Rose.

Here’s a deeper look into the best way for teams like the Chicago Bulls, and the rest of the 29 squads around the NBA in general, to use two-way players in today’s style.