Tony Snell Finding Role with Chicago Bulls Just in Time
With their perimeter ranks ripped apart by the injury bug, the Chicago Bulls have been searching for a spark on their wings.
Second-year swingman Tony Snell, who's been anxiously awaiting opportunity's knock, has pounced on this chance and provided exactly what the Windy City needed—at exactly the right time.
Despite having the on-paper appearance of a championship contender, the Bulls have had trouble consistently playing the part inside the lines.
Chicago's .623 winning percentage is only a shade higher than last season's .585 mark. And, remember, the latter number was compiled without Pau Gasol, with Derrick Rose making only 10 appearances and before Jimmy Butler's All-Star emergence. The Bulls' plus-3.4 net efficiency rating (11th overall, fourth in the East) is also only a stone's throw ahead of last season's plus-1.9 rating.
Injuries have been a major factor in Chicago's inconsistency, particularly out on the perimeter. Veteran sniper Mike Dunleavy just returned from a 19-game absence (ankle), combo guard Kirk Hinrich has missed the last two contests (toe) and Butler sat out the second half of Tuesday's 104-86 win over the Sacramento Kings (shoulder), per ESPN.com's Nick Friedell.
The Bulls have been desperate for depth, and Snell has surfaced as an unlikely solution to the problem. With steady minutes finally coming his way, the 23-year-old has used his last 10 outings to prove he can be something so much greater than the part-time player and irregular contributor Chicago fans saw during his first season-and-a-half with the Bulls.
It's hard to overstate the importance of the first column in the table above: minutes per game. They have typically come few and far between for Snell, which has only added to the difficulty of his transition to the big leagues.
But the sophomore says it's just part of the business, and that he's spent enough time shuffling in and out of the rotation to understand what his responsibilities are.
"All that matters is that I've got to stay ready," Snell said, per John Jackson of The Associated Press. "If I go in, just try to do the best I can. If not, cheer my team on. ... It's nothing new. You never know when your name gets called. I've got to make sure I'm ready when my name gets called."
That's not the easiest role to handle, and the difficulty of it showed in Snell's performance.
Prior to this recent stretch, he seemed to play with the purpose of not committing mistakes. It was as if he felt each game was an audition, and rather than winning a larger part, his goal was simply not to lose the one he had.
But that led to too much thinking and not enough trust in his basketball instincts.
He was overly cautious on the offensive end, passing up open shots and limiting the effectiveness of a three-point stroke that helped pave his NBA path. While his individual defensive talent was evident, his awareness and understanding of his role within coach Tom Thibodeau's system left something to be desired.
"Snell showed flashes of being a solid player throughout the season, but he was too inconsistent and unsure to make a major impact as a rookie," Friedell wrote in May of 2014.
That's no longer the case.
Snell seems much more confident in his ability. That has allowed him to simplify the game. He isn't thinking about what he's doing, he's reading and reacting to the opposition.
"I think he's taking good shots, good rhythm shots," Thibodeau said, per Jackson. "That's the big challenge: shoot when you should and pass when you should. I like that a lot."
Bulls Nation agrees, especially after Snell's brilliant performance Tuesday night. In nearly 41 minutes, he poured in a career-high 24 points, shooting 9-of-11 from the field and 4-of-6 from beyond the arc.
The Bulls have never seen Snell play at a level this high, at least not outside of Summer League.
Two games before his most recent outburst, he torched the New Orleans Pelicans for 19 points and five rebounds in less than 29 minutes. He converted five of his six long-range attempts that night, an outing that Friedell felt was the best he'd ever seen from the 20th pick of the 2013 draft:
It might be wise for anyone to hold off on similar declarations for the time being.
This doesn't have to be merely a fiery stretch. It may well develop into something far more substantial.
"I feel I have a more confident flow with the teammates I'm with out there and we're getting a feel of our strengths and weaknesses, playing together," Snell said, per Comcast SportsNet's Mark Strotman. "I feel like if I see one (shot) go in, I feel like more are going to go in."
Snell's confidence and comfort are both on the rise, and the combination could prove incredibly potent.
The Bulls need him to be more than a healthy body. They need his three-point touch to help open driving lanes and relieve some congestion in the paint, particularly as Dunleavy gets his legs back under him. They need another athletic, long-armed defender to wreak havoc on the outside, especially with Butler now battling the injury imp.
Snell has the tools needed to be an effective three-and-D wing. He's cashed in 37.8 percent of his triples over his last 10 games and shot 38 percent from distance over his three-year college career. His 6'11.5" wingspan (per DraftExpress) allows him to play a disruptive brand of defense, and he's held opponents to a 32.9 percent success rate on shots from beyond 15 feet, 4.6 percentage points below their average.
It's up to Snell to prove this type of effort is sustainable. As badly as the Bulls would like depth on the wings—Butler leads the league with 39.3 minutes per game, rookie Doug McDermott looks tethered to the bench—Thibodeau will only give playing time to guys he can trust.
This is Snell's chance to join that exclusive group. Butler was a late-bloomer himself, only grabbing a permanent rotation place halfway through his sophomore season, when a Luol Deng injury opened the door.
The same scenario is sitting in front of Snell, who brings similar defensive weapons as Butler with a more polished three-point shot. If consistent minutes for Snell keep bringing more consistent production, the Bulls could pick up a valuable piece for their rotation without having to go outside the organization.
With the stretch run sitting just around the corner and a potentially lengthy playoff appearance waiting in the wings, Snell's arrival could not be coming at a better time.
Unless otherwise noted, statistics used courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
