Did Chicago Bulls Make a Mistake Signing Richard Hamilton?
After their Eastern Conference Finals exit at the hands of the Miami Heat last season, it was glaringly apparent that the Chicago Bulls needed a shooting guard who could consistently contribute more scoring.
The 2011 NBA free agent class wasn’t as abundant with star talent as 2010, but players like Arron Affalo, Jason Richardson and Nick Young were available and suited Chicago’s personnel needs perfectly.
When all of the offers had been made and the ink dried on all of the contracts, Chicago added veteran shooting guard Richard Hamilton to the roster.
Hamilton’s game wisdom was something needed, especially with the departure of Kurt Thomas, and it was hoped that his offensive contributions would be enough to elevate Chicago to championship status. When Hamilton has played, the difference was very evident; the problem is Hamilton has not played much at all.
Out of the 30 games played so far, Hamilton has missed 18 mainly due to a groin injury (via Chicago Sun-Times).
The early season pattern included Hamilton sitting for a stretch and coming back to play a game or two only to re-aggravate the injury and sit some more.
There is no arguing just how limiting a groin injury can be in the game of basketball; however, the extent of time that Hamilton has missed goes beyond questioning the severity of the injury and calls into question Hamilton’s durability as a player.
It’s strange to do that though, because over the course of his career Hamilton has always been considered one of the better conditioned athletes in all of the NBA. The previous three seasons, however, point to a deteriorating player.
On average, Hamilton has missed 25 games per season since 2008-2009 NBA campaign: 15 games in 08-09, 36 in 09-10, and 27 in 10-11. Before that, the 2001-2002 season was the only other season where he missed more than 10 games.
When you lay all of that out, you have to wonder if Chicago was ignoring his declining health and looking for something a bit more economical—seeing as how the younger available talent all seemed to be looking to sign for more than the MLE that the Bulls had to offer.
Chicago could still be performing similar to how they are now without Hamilton, considering that he’s missed more than half of the team’s games. They did just fine with the likes of Keith Bogans just one year prior, thus further scrutinizing Hamilton's addition.
There’s no question that Hamilton has a skill set that Chicago desperately needed, but his skill set means very little when those skills are kept in a suit on the Bulls’ sideline.
Chicago has been taking the cautious approach with Hamilton since that Miami game, and as it stands now, he is still projected at being at least a week or two away from returning, according to ESPN.
That pretty much puts him out until after the All-Star break.
While it may seem like Chicago played the wrong card by signing Hamilton—especially considering the other talent that was available—the fact remains that Hamilton wasn’t added to bolster Chicago’s regular season runs. He was added to help push Chicago past the point where they fell last season.
At present time, it is best to reserve judgment on Hamilton’s addition until the playoffs arrive.
That is where he is expected to make the real difference, and that is where the merit of this decision will be either vindicated or convicted.
