Marquis Teague Isn't Ready for Expanded Role After Derrick Rose's Injury

The basketball world held its breath when they watched Derrick Rose limp off the court.

Injury is an unfortunate part of the business for a professional athlete, but it also opens the door for the next man up. For the Chicago Bulls, they’ll be looking to Marquis Teague, but the second-year player isn’t ready to take on more minutes in the Chicago backcourt.

The Bulls are partly to blame for that. Teague has been firmly entrenched in head coach Tom Thibodeau’s doghouse for the entirety of his young career. Even with Rose in street clothes for all of last season, Teague didn’t get the chance to prove himself in his rookie season.

Player	Minutes Per Game
Kirk Hinrich	29.4
Nate Robinson	25.4
Marquis Teague	8.2

Thibodeau divided the point guard minutes between Hinrich and Nate Robinson, with Teague only receiving playing time in meaningless garbage minutes at the end of games.

This season, Thibodeau doesn’t have the luxury of turning to Robinson. Marquis Teague and Mike James are the players that will back up Hinrich and run the show when Kirk Hinrich invariably misses some time.

Season	Games Played	Percentage of Games Missed
2003-04	76	7.3%
2004-05	77	6.1%
2005-06	81	1.2%
2006-07	80	2.4%
2007-08	75	8.5%
2008-09	51	37.8%
2009-10	74	9.8%
2010-11	72	12.2%
2011-12	48	27.3%
2012-13	60	26.8%

Whether Teague is ready for them or not, the minutes are going to come his way.

At the very least, the opportunity to get off the bench will be good for Teague. He’ll get the chance to play meaningful minutes and learn by doing. But will it be good for the Bulls?

What little exposure we’ve had to Teague says probably not.

He’s struggled on offense, shooting only 37 percent so far in his very young career. More importantly, he hasn’t showed any signs of being able to run the offense. He makes bad decisions with the ball in his hands, turning the ball over every 1.8 assists.

According to Basketball-Reference.com, he’s scoring 66 points per 100 possessions this season and has a negative Player Efficiency Rating (-2.0).

He hasn’t been able to provide anything on the defensive side of the ball either. SynergySports calculates that he’s giving up 1.14 points per possession and allowing opponents to shoot 50 percent from the floor this season.

It will be interesting to see what his role is with Rose sidelined once again. Given Thibodeau’s complete lack of faith in Teague, it wouldn't be surprising to see the Bulls try to acquire another point guard.

Teague will get the chance to prove he's up to the task, but—unfortunately for Chicago—he hasn’t given any indication that he’s ready for a larger role.

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