Kris Dunn will not be the Bulls’ starting point guard come opening-night tip-off this October.
If he is, well, something went wrong for the Bulls this offseason or in the fall training camp.
Dunn’s attitude has been that the the job is his, and “I don’t run from nothing.’’
The front office, however, has been adamant since last midseason that improvements need to be made at that position, whether it comes in free agency or through the draft.
The latter scenario will be explored Thursday, with the Bulls holding the No. 7 overall pick in the 2019 NBA draft.
The problem?
It’s a numbers game at the point guard position and lucky sevens won’t be a factor.
After Zion Williamson goes No. 1 to New Orleans, Memphis has already insisted that Ja Morant is the heir apparent to veteran point guard Mike Conley and will be headed to the Grizzlies.
That leaves four teams sitting ahead of the Bulls in the draft order, and only one real point guard worth a top-10 selection left on the board in Darius Garland.
The New York Knicks seem poised to select guard/forward R.J. Barrett at No. 3, and then it gets interesting.
New Orleans holds the No. 4 pick after the mega-deal that sent Anthony Davis to the Los Angeles Lakers, and also have a backlog at point guard with Lonzo Ball a Pelican, as well as veteran Jrue Holiday continuing to play All-Star-level basketball.
The talk is they are in on two-guard Jarrett Culver, but only dipping their toes in that pool. With New Orleans now in full rebuild mode, what would it take for the Bulls to move up to No. 4 and grab Garland?
Again, that is assuming that both general manager Gar Forman and vice president of basketball operations John Paxson think highly enough of the Vanderbilt point guard to move possible future assets to obtain him.
Garland is a good shooter and has great ball-handling skills, but his decision-making was a head-scratcher at times — as was his ball security. Basically, those are the same two biggest knocks on Dunn.
So how much better would he actually make the Bulls if he couldn’t improve on those two weaknesses?
The other concern is he played only five games for Vanderbilt before being sidelined with a left meniscus surgery, so the sample size is small.
One source told the Sun-Times this week that the Bulls’ interest in Garland was more smokescreen than reality, and that the front office was zeroing in on wings De’Andre Hunter, Cam Reddish and Sekou Doumbouya as higher priorities.
Texas big man Jaxson Hayes has also been rumored to be linked to the Bulls, but collecting wing defenders is a must for coach Jim Boylen if this team is to take the next step in the rebuild, especially in the lineup when Lauri Markkanen switches to the five.
This is good news for Dunn — at least until free agency rolls around at the end of June, and the Bulls are more likely to add that starting point guard.
One source says that even if they drafted Garland, the Bulls would look to add a veteran point guard to the mix, but wouldn’t need to write as big a check because it would be a lower-tier player.
If it’s not Garland on Thursday night, however, which point guard would the Bulls target? Patrick Beverley is the ideal fit, but only at the right price. Paxson has stated that they wanted to add depth on the bench, especially in the toughness department, so the plan was to use cap space to add at least two free agents this summer.
Ish Smith and Cory Joseph are each worth keeping an eye on.
Especially if you’re Kris Dunn.
