It was clear last night that the Bulls are making a concerted effort to shoot more threes and at times it looked pretty good with Coby driving and dishing, and guys swinging it around the perimeter for the open shot. But DeMar just doesn’t fit with that approach. It’s not his game and he never looked comfortable being part of those sequences. (Patrick Williams isn’t a great fit for this either but you can maybe live with him as the worst and most reluctant shooter on the floor.) It didn’t surprise me at all when I saw that DeMar was -29 for the game despite having decent numbers.
I love DeMar and I’ll always have a place for him in my heart after his late game heroics two seasons ago, but he’s on the last year of his deal and he doesn’t fit the offensive gameplan. And most importantly, he still likely has some trade value. So I say trade him while we can and get another shooter into the lineup. Even if it’s Torrey Craig or Jevon Carter but ideally someone better and younger than them we could get in the trade.
My expectation was that the Bulls would continue to use a DeMar heavy approach when he was on the floor but now surrounded with people who can catch and shoot threes. Zach would then sit early and run the offense with the bench… again surrounded by people who can catch and shoot threes. With a healthy Zach, I think this would have improved the offense this year but not dramatically while also removing any learning curve. Maybe they would try to install more diversity later in the year.
Instead, the Bulls look like they will take a more drastic approach. They seem to be increasing the pace, putting the ball more in Zach and Coby’s hands – even when DeMar is on the floor, trying to have Vucevic make more passes from the elbow, and using DeMar more often as a spot up shooter. The offense should improve over time and as the Bulls shoot 3s closer to their averages, and it’s a decision to make the Bulls more efficient over the long haul… but as you said, this really, really doesn’t fit DeMar naturally.
I’m honestly expecting them to revert after a couple of unsuccessful weeks (while still trying to get up more threes), but I’m hoping the new style improves with DeMar on the court.