Remember 14-7? Dunn will never forget Chicago Bulls' brief stretch of success
It was just under two years ago that the Bulls unleashed their most successful stretch of the rebuilding era - a 14-7 record between Dec. 8, 2017, and Jan. 15, 2018.
This was pretty much the only success story of the rebuild. They had a smaller run of 6 wins in nine games last season after the Otto Porter trade.
The 14-7 stretch was costly in a way. By winning so much, the Bulls lost the chance to draft the one true star to come out of the 2018 draft, Dallas' Luka Doncic, although there's no guarantee the Bulls would have taken him if they had the chance. And the player they did take at No. 7, center Wendell Carter Jr., has been a bright spot this season.
The 14-7 stretch tells an interesting story about where the Bulls are now, and why they haven't come close to winning at the same level.
The surge began on the day Nikola Mirotic returned from facial fractures inflicted by former teammate Bobby Portis and ended when Kris Dunn lost his balance after a fastbreak dunk, slamming face-first into the floor and suffering a concussion.
Zach LaVine played in the last two games of this stretch, which were his first two with the Bulls after recovering from ACL surgery.
Looking at the stats from these 21 games, the first thing that stands out was the Bulls practically shot the lights out from 3-point land.
Mirotic was at 45 percent. Lauri Markkanen, then a rookie, was at 43.8 percent, followed by Justin Holiday (43.4), Portis (37.2) and Denzel Valentine (36.4). The Bulls ranked second in the league in 3-point percentage during this stretch.
Having multiple big men who could shoot from long range posed a lot of problems for opposing teams, and it opened up the lane for Dunn to do what he does best - attack the middle and either get to the basket or drop in a short turnaround jumper.
Fast forward to Monday's loss to Portland and Dunn was on the perimeter shooting 3-pointers. He went 0-for-5 against the Blazers and is at 16.7 percent on the season from long range. The Bulls are attempting more 3s but have fewer quality shooters.
Dunn averaged 15 points and 8.2 assists during the 14-7 stretch. I asked him Tuesday how often he thinks back to those days, considering he and the Bulls haven't approached the same success.
"You see what level you were at," he said. "I understand I could be at that level. For me it's just right now that's not my role. When an opportunity presents itself, I have to be back at that level. But right now I'm trying to do whatever I can do for the team."
Maybe the NBA trend is just impossible to ignore. Dunn needs to become a better long-range shooter to survive in today's 3-point-happy league.
"To be honest, just putting it all together," Dunn said. "Do what the league's doing right now, which is the 3-point shooting. But at the same time, keep doing my strength, and that's attacking the lane and getting guys involved, but hang my hat on defense.
"There's a bunch of guys in the league who made a lot of money doing that - Patrick Beverley, Marcus Smart, Cory Joseph, Dejounte Murray - and I know for sure I could do that."
Last spring, Dunn vowed to improve his 3-point shot and stands by that declaration. He's trying to stop thinking about it and just let it fly.
"It's been tough, but it's a long season," he said. "It's only been 18 games. It's still a whole 60 games left, it could change around in the blink of an eye. You've just got to keep trusting your work and keep getting after it."
The question that remains is, why didn't the Bulls stick with what was working? They didn't have to trade Mirotic, but did anyway. Management had pretty much decided to move on from Mirotic's inconsistency.
At the moment, Mirotic is averaging 18.5 points in EuroLeague play with Barcelona. Who knows? Maybe having Mirotic around would have helped Markkanen's development.
The Bulls are feeling some painful fallout now from the Mirotic trade. They badly need a couple of veterans to be on the floor with LaVine, Markkanen and Carter, and the Bulls decided the primary guy would be Porter, who is currently sidelined indefinitely with a foot sprain. Even when Porter gets healthy, there's no telling if he will ever be a consistently reliable player.
With Porter out, the Bulls could really use another veteran who can play small forward. But they don't have one because second-year pro Chandler Hutchison is the other small forward. When the Bulls traded Mirotic, they basically paid $14 million to New Orleans for a first-round pick, which they used on Hutchison.
The former Boise State star hasn't been anything special, and the Bulls should probably move on and try to add veteran help. But they can't give up on Hutchison because they paid $14 million to get him.
So here they are, a group that thought it might be a playoff team but is really a 6-12 team with plenty of flaws. They'll start a three-game Western trip Wednesday at Golden State.
Maybe they can at least learn from the experience. Next time they start winning, stick with what works.
• Twitter: @McGrawDHBulls
Bulls game day
Bulls vs. Golden State Warriors, Wednesday 9:30 p.m. at the Chase Center
TV: NBCSCH; Radio: WSCR 670-AM
Outlook: Obviously, the Warriors (3-15) have fallen on hard times without Steph Curry (broken hand) and Klay Thompson (ACL surgery). In addition, Draymond Green is questionable with a sore heel and D'Angelo Russell is sidelined by a sprained right thumb. ... Without those four, the top scorers are rookie SF Eric Paschall (16.5 ppg), SG Alec Burks (14.4) and SF Glen Robinson III (12.0). ... Seven of Golden State's last 11 losses have been by 8 points or fewer. ... This will be the Bulls' first trip to the Warriors' new arena in San Francisco. They lost their last four visits to Oracle Arena in Oakland.
Next: Portland Trail Blazers, 9 p.m. Friday at the Moda Center
- Mike McGraw