Can Arcidiacono bring more to Bulls than taking charges?
Seventh in a series
One popular question with the Bulls this season was why Ryan Arcidiacono was such a mainstay of the rotation.
He played in 58 of 65 games, started four times and averaged 16 minutes per game.
The answer is relatively simple. Arcidiacono is steady. He's a player you can rely on. He's a decent defender, can get hot from long range sometimes, knows how to run the offense and led the league in charges taken per minute played.
Now, is he a good NBA player in any of those categories? Well, obviously he takes charges as well as anyone, but everything else, not especially.
Arcidiacono averaged 4.5 points and 1.7 assists. He knows he's a complementary player who should take a back seat when on the court. He never tries to do too much.
Better 3-point shooting could put the third-year guard in a higher echelon. He shot a career-best 39.1 percent from long range this season, so he's on the right track.
It's easy to look at Indiana's T.J. McConnell as an ideal comp for Arcidiacono. McConnell was starting his NBA career in Philadelphia with the 76ers while Arcidiacono starred at Villanova.
McConnell had the advantage of getting major playing time with some of those bad Sixers teams and remained a valuable contributor when he moved to the Pacers this season. The 6-foot-3 Arcidiacono is taller than McConnell but is a couple steps slower. McConnell can get to the rim and finish, which Arcidiacono doesn't try very often.
It's also worth noting that Arcidiacono is the only Windy City Bulls alumnus on the current Bulls roster. The lack of success with developing players in the G-League helps explain why the rebuild has been sputtering.
The Bulls would love to have two original Windy City Bulls, Spencer Dinwiddie and Alfonzo McKinnie, on the roster, but they were signed by other teams. During Windy City's second season, Antonio Blakeney and Arcidiacono were the two-way players. Blakeney won G-League rookie of the year honors, both players made the Bulls roster the following season and Arcidiacono stuck, while Blakeney didn't.
Another former Windy City Bull, guard Mychal Mulder, landed a job with Golden State just before the season was suspended. So the Hoffman Estates affiliate has done a better job of stocking other NBA teams than the Bulls, but there's hope that is starting to turn around. This season, DePaul product Max Strus played well until suffering a torn ACL in December, and guard Adam Mokoka showed potential as a 3-and-D type of player later in the season.
Arcidiacono signed a three-year deal last summer, so he's under contract for 2020-21 at $3 million, while the following season is a team option.
He may never be a front-line NBA player, but Arcidiacono isn't a bad guy to have at the end of the bench. And coaches always seem to have a soft spot for a guy who will take charges and dive on the floor.
GM search continues: ESPN reported the Bulls interviewed Michael Finley for their general manager position. Finley, a two-time all-star, has spent the past seven years in the Dallas Mavericks front office. The Proviso East High School graduate retired as a player in 2010.
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