2015/16 D-League Usage Report: Bulls

The NBA’s relationship with the D-League continues to grow, and this season a total of 19 NBA teams have one-to-one affiliations with D-League clubs. Those NBA organizations without their own affiliates were required to assign players to D-League clubs associated with other NBA franchises. D-League teams could volunteer to take on the assigned players, and if no volunteers emerged, the players were assigned at random.

This significant change from the 2014/15 season came about after the Pacers purchased the Fort Wayne Mad Ants and turned them into their one-to-one partner for the 2015/16 campaign. Other NBA teams have interest in following suit in the years ahead, and the NBA’s ultimate goal for the D-League is for all 30 NBA franchises to have their own D-League squads. You can view the complete list of D-League affiliates here.

We at Hoops Rumors will be recapping the D-League-related activity for the 2015/16 campaign for each team and we’ll continue with the Chicago Bulls, one of the 11 NBA franchises without their own D-League affiliate:

The Bulls made four assignments for the 2015/16 campaign, sending three players to the D-League for a total of 32 days. Listed below are all the assignments and recalls made by Chicago for the 2015/16 campaign:

• November 21st: Assigned Cameron Bairstow (1st) [Austin Spurs] — Recalled December 7th
• December 31st: Assigned Cristiano Felicio (1st) [Canton Charge] — Recalled January 14th
• January 15th: Assigned Cristiano Felicio (2nd) [Canton Charge] — Recalled January 16th
• February 1st: Assigned Mike Dunleavy (1st) [Santa Cruz Warriors] — Recalled February 3rd

Here is how the Bulls players performed while on assignment to the D-League this season:

• Cameron Bairstow: In five D-League appearances, the forward averaged 14.0 points, 8.0 rebounds and 1.2 assists in 26.5 minutes per outing. Bairstow’s shooting line was .475/.000/.824.
• Cristiano Felicio: In four D-League appearances this season, the big man averaged 14.3 points, 5.5 rebounds and 1.5 blocks in 23.7 minutes per contest. His slash line was .641/.400/.750.
• Mike Dunleavy: The swingman was assigned to the D-League for practice/rehab purposes and didn’t appear in any games while with Santa Cruz.