Without much of an opportunity to show what he was capable of as a rookie, Kris Dunn‘s production with the Bulls in his sophomore season has been particularly intriguing. As Spencer Davies of Basketball Insiders writes, Dunn has been given a larger role than he saw with the Timberwolves and that’s paying off on both sides of the ball.
Not only has Dunn’s playing time increased with the Bulls, his role in the offense has too. The guard is averaging three-times the field-goal attempts that he put up last season and his percentage has climbed with increased usage.
Davies also notes that Dunn’s presence has had a drastic impact on the Bulls’ defensive success. While the team struggles in general with their defense, the club allows 6.9 fewer points per possession when Dunn is on the floor.
There’s more from the Central Division:
- The Cavaliers would consider moving Tristan Thompson for DeAndre Jordan if such an opportunity presented itself, Joe Vardon of Cleveland.com writes in a question-and-answer with readers but the Cavs wouldn’t likely seriously pursue the Clippers big man unless they were convinced he was the missing piece necessary to take down Golden State.
- Bench anchor Dwyane Wade is enjoying his time with the Cavaliers‘ second-unit, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com writes. The 35-year-old has embraced the role of guiding the team’s attack off the pine.
- The Pacers had long envied Cory Joseph before acquiring him this past offseason, Michael Grange of Sportsnet writes. “We’re very pleased with Cory. He’s always been a guy I’ve liked since he was playing in San Antonio and couple of years ago he had a real good series against us, played really well and was a big factor in the playoffs against us,” head coach Nate McMillan said, as the guard made his first appearance in Toronto following the deal.
The Cavs are unlikely to think DJordan is a GSW-beater. Along with the consensus, they associate space-n-pace with GSW, which is not wrong. However they were out-physicalled in the finals, and with one live-bodied but overwhelmed PF for their center crew, they were no match for GSW’s rotation of about 4. They were prepared to deal with spacenpace (indeed they do that themselves) but not with being pushed around– and still aren’t IMO, even with still another PF at C. Jordan of course would fix that. But with Crowder less effective than expected at PF they may want a D-winger more.
Lue likes small, players aren’t going to admit the no-name center rotation coming in waves are a problem, James doesn’t want Durant to make him expend on defense, and mgmt wants to be on top of trends. So a F might get priority.
Positionless basketball in the long run is just a fantasy in the NBA. It allows players to fall into comfort zones; chores can be ignored.
… Pacers & Magic?