The Chicago Bulls and Denzel Valentine have had a rocky relationship since his selection back in 2016. Now, with the former Michigan State Spartan facing down free agency, the new front office should consider extending a qualifying offer to him.
Chicago Bulls fans should follow their new front office executives Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley in combing through the current roster very carefully.
While the Bulls are strapped for cash going into the 2020-2021 season, there are a few players that are eligible to receive a qualifying offer going into the offseason, namely, point guard Kris Dunn and guard/forward Denzel Valentine.
Personally, I’ve written Dunn off because of his lack of production in his offensive game as well as his chemistry (namely lack thereof) with Zach LaVine and Lauri Markkanen. While his defensive game is admirable, Dunn simply does not fit the style of game the Bulls want going forward.
Valentine, on the other hand, is a bench player who fits in the modern NBA while also being a quasi-throwback in how he approaches the game. The 26-year-old forward has shown the ability to shoot from deep; he also possesses the capability to get into the lane with know-how instead of athleticism and can read the floor better than most current Bulls players on offense.
Valentine’s career started off slow in the brief era of “The Three Alphas“, but he showed out during his sophomore season in 2017-18 by averaging 10.2 points, 5.1 rebounds, and 3.2 assists while showing off a 38.6 percentage from three.
(Take a look at his stats per-36 minutes and tell me that isn’t quality offensive production.)
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It wasn’t flashy and the defensive awareness was dreadful, but Denzel could get buckets and occasionally throw up a 20-something point game
Fred Hoiberg‘s last full season as head coach of the Bulls saw Valentine appear in 77 games, starting 37 of them.
Just when it looked like Valentine was poised for a breakout, he missed the entire 2018-19 season recovering from reconstructive ankle surgery.
By the time the former Spartan could return to the court, there was a new coach in charge, and a once-hopeful offensive bench piece found himself in new head coach Jim Boylen‘s doghouse.