Chicago Bulls’ Kris Dunn can change the perception of his career, if organizations stopped putting a spotlight on his weaknesses and accentuated the strengths
"With Kris Dunn struggling, should the Bulls call up Walter Lemon Jr. from the G League?"
This question was posed by a Chicago Bulls fan named Daniel G during a question-and-answer session with KC Johnson of the Chicago Tribune last month. However, one can argue that Kris Dunn’s struggles can be fixed if the organization stopped putting a spotlight on his weaknesses and accentuate his strengths.
Dunn has spent a significant amount of time off the ball in a spot up shooter/bystander role. One example of this was during his rookie season with the Minnesota Timberwolves when the team had a home game against the Golden State Warriors.
Early in the second quarter, Tyus Jones dribbled the basketball up to the three-point line. Once this happened, he passed the ball to Shabazz Muhammad who was standing on the left wing. Shabazz immediately gave the ball to Karl-Anthony Towns who established post position on the left mid-block.
Towns proceeded to miss a turn around jumper from the mid-block. As the play was happening, Kris Dunn spent the entire possession on the other side of the court in the role of spectator.
After the season, Kris Dunn was traded to the Bulls as a part of the package that allowed Minnesota to acquire Jimmy Butler. Even though Dunn was in a new organization, his role did not change as he spent a lot of time in the role of spot up shooter/ bystander.
A prime example of this is when Dunn would dribble the basketball up to the 3-point line and pass it to LaVine to initiate the pick and roll. Once this happened, Kris would stand behind the 3-point line in the role of a spot up shooter/bystander.
Unfortunately, shooting has always been one of Kris Dunn’s biggest weaknesses. According to Draft Express, Dunn was known as an inconsistent 3-point shooter as he came up through the amateur ranks.
"During his tenure at Providence college, Dunn was somewhat of a mixed bag. He didn’t attempt all that many 3s this season, as only 20% of his field goal attempts came from beyond the arc, and found somewhat mixed results when he did, making 34.7%–often looking unbalanced and jumping way forward on many of his shots, some of which looked rush and came very early in the shot-clock."
The inability to develop a consistent three-point shot has followed him into the NBA. According to Basketball-Reference, Dunn has career 3-point shooting percentage of 32.2 percent (0.5 3’s in 1.7 attempts) in nearly three seasons.
Therefore, the only way Kris can change the perception around his career is to convince the organization to accentuate his strengths. According to Draft Express, Kris developed a reputation for thriving in pick and roll situations as he was coming up through the amateur ranks:
"Dunn proved to be a maestro in the pick and roll, keeping defenders on his back and dropping it off to the roll man or bouncing out of the paint and knocking down a mid-range jumper."
As a consequence, Kris Dunn should play in an offensive system where he can initiate the pick-and-roll. Starting the pick-and-roll sequence would allow Dunn to study the opposing defense to determine what is the right play on a specific possession.
For example, Dunn can bring the ball up to the 3-point line and call for a screen. Once the pick was set, Kris can pay attention to his defender to determine the course of action. If the defender stayed under the screen, he can either shoot the ball immediately or go over the screen to shoot a mid-range jumper.
On the other hand, if the defender fought over the screen, he can go over it as well and drive towards the basket to score or pass the basketball depending on whether a double team comes.
If Kris is unable to convince the team that they should accentuate his strengths, he will have to wait for a trade or restricted free agency in 2021 to change the perception about his career. During restricted free agency, his camp should see if the Houston Rockets have any interest in signing him as a backup because Mike D’Antoni would be the perfect coach for him.
Mike features a significant amount of pick and roll plays in his offensive system. One example of this was during a road game against the Dallas Mavericks when James Harden dribbled the ball to the 3-point line.
Once this happened, Nene came up to set the screen which created a temporary wall between Harden and his defender Wesley Matthews. The temporary wall left Dirk Nowitzki as the last line of the defense between James and the basket.
James Harden knew Dirk didn’t possess the lateral quickness to stop him from getting to the rim. Therefore, he drove straight down the middle of the paint and scored with a layup.
In conclusion, if Kris Dunn goes to a pick and roll offense, it gives him the best opportunity to change the perception of being a struggling point guard to being a late bloomer.