Can new shooting coach turn Bulls into 3-point specialists?
The clock was about to strike midnight when the Bulls brain trust of Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley met with reporters following Thursday's NBA draft.
It was a subdued chat, maybe because everyone was getting a little sleepy.
One point where the conversation perked up, though, was when Eversley talked about a new hire. Chicago native Peter Patton is on board with the task of turning the Bulls into a better 3-point shooting team.
"As a team, our shooting needs to improve," Eversley said. "We sat as a group and talked about what are the things we need to do and one of them was we needed to hire a shooting coach. Peter comes to us not only as a shooting coach, but someone who can oversee our player development function. We thought we needed a fresh look."
Patton was a three-sport star at Loyola Academy, then played at DePaul from 1992-96, shooting 45.6% from 3-point range during his final two seasons.
When his playing days were over, Patton moved into player development and is billed as a protégé of renowned shooting coach Chip Engelland, a longtime assistant with the Spurs who is now on the Oklahoma City staff.
Patton was hired by Tom Thibodeau when he first took the Minnesota Timberwolves coaching job. For the past five years, Patton worked for the Dallas Mavericks.
There's no doubt the Bulls have been lagging behind in player development. With shooters at a premium in the NBA, it won't be easy to improve by signing free agents. The Miami Heat has proved teams can create their own 3-point shooters. Four undrafted players - Gabe Vincent, Caleb Martin, Duncan Robinson and Chicago native Max Strus helped push the Heat from the No. 8 seed to the NBA Finals.
It doesn't take large amounts of imagination to look at the Bulls roster and see how better shooting from guys like Alex Caruso, Dalen Terry and possibly newcomer Julian Phillips would help team success.
Internal improvement has already been a theme for the Bulls this summer, at least on Instagram, where video was posted of DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine working together with skills coach Johnny Stephene in Los Angeles. DeRozan, Terry and Patrick Williams have been in the gym together. Coby White was in Stephene's gym recently. Karnisovas mentioned played development coordinated Ty Abbott is also working with Bulls players on the West Coast.
If this all sounds like the nucleus of last year's Bulls will be back, that's probably true. They'll have a chance to add some pieces in free agency.
Bulls find Volunteer:
In case you missed it, the Bulls did acquire a draft pick late Thursday night, choosing 6-8 Tennessee forward Julian Phillips with the No. 35 overall selection. Arturas Karnisovas wouldn't confirm how the Bulls got the pick, but one Twitter report suggested they gave up two future second-rounders to Washington.
Phillips is an interesting prospect. He posted the highest max vertical of 43 inches at the draft combine. He's a talented defender whose offensive game needs work. Phillips averaged 8.3 points and shot 24% from 3-point range during his lone season with the volunteers.
The thing is, Phillips seemed to be a decent shooter during his high school and AAU days. In the On3 Class of '22 recruiting rankings, Phillips was No. 13, one spot ahead of Brandon Miller, who went No. 2 in the draft. Defense-ready, athletic projects aren't a bad gamble.
"He can step in right now and probably defend on our level," Karnisovas said. "He's young and very talented."
Ball off the court:
Karnisovas had this to say about Lonzo Ball's status: "He's recovering nicely. I think last month he got off the crutches. Everything is going well. I think our expectation is he's not coming back next season and he's going to continue on his recovery. If he comes back, it would be great."
Karnisovas didn't say Ball has been ruled out this season, just that he doesn't expect him to play. Ball is under contract for two more seasons and at the moment, the Bulls aren't considering the stretch provision. That's where a player is waived and his cap hit is spread out over a longer period.
Two ways to build roster:
There were reports of two new potential additions. The Bulls agreed to a two-way deal with UConn center Adama Sonogo, according to Adrian Wojnarowski. The 6-9 junior from Mali was actually the Huskies' top scorer last season, averaging 17.2 points and 7.7 rebounds for the national champs.
The Bulls were also connected to 6-5 Turkish shooting guard Onuralp Bitim, possibly on a two-way deal. The 24-year-old averaged 17.7 points and shot 39% in the Turkish League last season. He spent time in the U.S. during his high school years, playing for Huntington (W.Va.) Prep with Miles Bridges.
NBA teams are now allowed to have three two-way players, so the Bulls may also hang onto former Marquette forward Justin Lewis, who missed all of last season with a knee injury. Carlik Jones finished the year on the NBA roster.
Look for these players, plus Phillips and Dalen Terry at the Las Vegas Summer League. The Bulls open on July 7 at 5:30 p.m. against Toronto.
Life of luxury:
Asked about the luxury tax, Karnisovas said it won't be a brick wall when it comes to free-agency.
"Jerry and Michael (Reinsdorf) have always been open with me to going into luxury tax if our team is competitive, top 4, top 6 in the East," Karnisovas said. "If there are players in free-agency that we can improve our team and we're competitive, we'll retain our free agents."
Jerry Reinsdorf has been saying this for years. He has no objection to paying the luxury tax if the Bulls are a good team, but then it rarely happens.
If the Bulls re-sign free agents Nikola Vucevic, Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu, use the midlevel exception to add players and utilize a disabled player exception for Lonzo Ball, they will almost certainly end up paying the luxury tax.
Karnisovas didn't rule out re-signing Derrick Jones Jr., who opted out of his deal; and said he didn't know yet if Andre Drummond will opt-in or opt-out.
Twitter: @McGrawDHSports