Doug McDermott Must Seize Early Chance While Jimmy Butler Recovers from Injury
The best opportunities don't always arise from the best circumstances.
That appears to be the case for Chicago Bulls rookie Doug McDermott, who might open his debut campaign with a much larger role than initially anticipated.
It all comes down to the health of perimeter stopper Jimmy Butler, an All-Defensive second-team selection in 2013-14. The 25-year-old suffered a sprained left thumb during Chicago's preseason tilt with the Charlotte Hornets on October 19, casting a cloud of uncertainty over his availability out of the gate.
While initially thought to be a game-time decision for Chicago's season opener Wednesday night, Butler has since has been ruled out of the contest, per K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune. As for how long he'll be out of the action, well, that remains a mystery.
Bulls coach Tom Thibodeau said Butler would be out two-to-four weeks, per ESPN Chicago's Nick Friedell:
Butler, however, chimed in that he's hoping to return as soon as Friday, per Johnson:
No one seems to know just how long this might last, Thibodeau included.
"Two-to-four (weeks), one-to-three, I don't know what it is," the coach told reporters Wednesday. "He's not comfortable going yet, so when he is, he will."
Even amid the mass of question marks, one thing seems fairly certain: The window is now open for McDermott to make his mark. Whether it's open a crack or something larger than that is moot.
Regardless of the size of this opportunity, the point is that it absolutely exists.
Now, that might not sound surprising to some given the way McDermott paved his NBA path.
He left Creighton University sitting fifth on the NCAA's all-time scoring list with 3,150 career points. He was a three-time All-American, a three-time conference player of the year and a four-time All-Conference first-teamer.
He turned enough heads at the collegiate level for the Bulls to part with two first-round selections to bring him on board. Considering Chicago's investment in his talent and his level of success prior to hitting the Windy City, he may have seemed primed for a substantial role.
Before Butler went down, though, McDermott actually appeared more likely to have nothing more than a part-time spot in Thibodeau's rotation.
"There are several players in place who have the time in Thibs' system that McDermott lacks, and once again, [Tony] Snell could have something to say about the minutes the rookie gets," Blog A Bull's Jason Patt wrote in September. "... I'm thinking McDermott plays around 15-20 minutes per game this season."
Butler's injury changes everything.
The swingman logged a team-high 38.7 minutes per game last season, a year in which he struggled to fully shake off the effects of a turf-toe injury he suffered in November. He may have rushed that return and has said he will not make the same mistake again.
"This time I'm going to make sure I'm back and ready to go without limitations," he said, per Bulls.com's Sam Smith. "(Last year) I had that turf toe. I probably came back a little too early and I was still a little ragged in some parts. This time, I'm going to make sure I'm back 100 percent."
The championship-hopeful Bulls need Butler at his best, so they won't force the issue. But they'll need someone to fill his shoes in the interim. And of all the players up for the position, none carries a deeper bag of scoring tricks than McDermott.
His perimeter prowess may have punched his NBA ticket, but McDermott has the ability to be much more than a gunner, as Bleacher Report's Daniel O'Brien explained:
"McDermott can do more than hit triples, as he's got a great feel for scoring from any spot on the floor.
He can get defenders to bite on pump-fakes, and then he's capable of one or two dribbles for a bucket off the glass. In the mid-range, he's extremely dangerous with an assortment of step-backs and Dirk Nowitzki-esque fadeaways.
"
Even with Derrick Rose's return and the additions of Pau Gasol, Nikola Mirotic and Aaron Brooks, the Bulls need someone with that type of offensive punch.
And scary as this sounds, McDermott could be an even more effective offensive player now with all the help he'll have around him.
"I'd go on record and say I feel like at the end of the day, if somehow Doug McDermott can be a starter, I think he's going to get better shots with that starting unit being out there with Pau Gasol and with Derrick Rose," former Bulls coach and current ESPN analyst Doug Collins told reporters recently.
The Bulls can look at other options for shooters, but they won't find any who can match McDermott's offensive arsenal.
At this point in his career, Mike Dunleavy is more of a specialist than anything. Nearly 42 percent of his field-goal attempts came from long range last season, and almost all of his makes were created by someone else: Over 78 percent of his two-point field goals and almost 96 percent of his triples came off assists.
Kirk Hinrich had more success calling his own number—just 38.6 percent of his two-point baskets were assisted—but the 33-year-old has converted his field goals at less than a 40 percent clip during each of the past two seasons.
Sophomore swingman Tony Snell packs an intriguing combination of athleticism and three-point touch. But he only played 16.0 minutes a night as a rookie, and, as Bleacher Report's Sean Highkin observed, he has yet to prove he has Thibodeau's trust:
With so many minutes to fill, all four players should factor into Thibodeau's early season rotation. But this is McDermott's chance to entrench himself into the Bulls' blueprint going forward.
Thibodeau isn't the biggest fan of growing pains. During his four seasons at the helm, Snell is the only Bulls rookie to have averaged more than 13 minutes a night.
That said, those growing pains are easier to deal with in October and November than they would be in April and May. If McDermott can play Thibodeau-approved defense, an area in which the rookie will be helped by the likes of reigning Defensive Player of the Year Joakim Noah and rim protector Taj Gibson, McDermott can use this early exposure to secure a larger permanent role than anyone could have imagined would be available to him.
It's probably not the opportunity McDermott pictured himself receiving. It's definitely not the way the Bulls wanted to find minutes for the first-year forward.
But it's a silver lining nonetheless. It's his chance to turn the franchise's setback into a step forward for the organization.
Unless otherwise noted, statistics used courtesy of Basketball-Reference.com and NBA.com.
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