He’s the heart and soul of the team and the true floor raiser. He adds better shooting, defense and playmaking/ballhandling than anyone else. And Demar can guard 4s as well as he guards any other position.
I think the Bulls should just start Caruso and completely open up the offense in the short term to let them cook. Then when they bring back their structured stuff they can play Demar and Zach on the strong side together more. Where Demar hangs around the hi to low posts and corner and Zach on the wing. The offense would be good enough if it clicked that the bench would just need to defend the lead.
Caruso doesn’t even have to start, but he should be playing more minutes if they want to win.
I don’t think winning now is their highest priority. The Bulls’ front office wants to see if the younger players can develop, and if they look hopeless (like they do right now) they want Caruso healthy if they decide to trade him.
Last year there was some excuse to limit Caruso’s minutes because he was very bad on offense and coming off a pretty serious injury the year before. And he does play a high-energy game.
But this year Caruso is fully recovered from his injury, he’s still in his prime, and his offense is looking much better – although it’s a small sample size so far. For example, Caruso won’t hit 44% of his threes all season. And Coby and P-Will likely won’t hit 28% and 23% of their threes all season, as they are now.
But it’s quickly getting to the point where Caruso should take some of their minutes – if they want to win now.