Last month I wrote a season review of the Bulls’ starting unit. Now it’s time to cover the bench.

To start, I will say the Bulls bench unit definitely has some promising talent going forward. I don’t necessarily think that any of them are going to become stars but there are certainly some guys that the team can rely on to lead second units.

I will not be covering every single player to have played with the bench unit this past season, only those that saw a fair amount of court time. For instance, I will not be covering Nikola Mirotic as he was traded to New Orleans during the season. I will also not cover Noah Vonleh as he only appeared in 19 games for the Bulls and I don’t believe he is part of the Bulls long-term plans.

The Bench

Bobby Portis
Denzel Valentine
Jerian Grant
David Nwaba
Cristiano Felicio
Cameron Payne
Paul Zipser

Bobby Portis

A future Sixth Man of the Year. Breaker of faces. Craziest eyes in the NBA. Portis had a pretty big leap in his level of production this season, going from 6.8 ppg to 13.2 in just 22.5 mpg. I don't know if he will ever get the chance to be a long-term starter with the Bulls because of Markkanen. However, Portis can be really solid in the second unit. He can space the floor and play the 5 a little bit. I’m looking forward to seeing his improvement for next season.

Denzel Valentine

Valentine also showed solid improvement this season. I’d like to see him continue to improve to set himself apart as the 7th or 8th man going forward. He can shoot and can pass decently well for a guard/forward. However, I would like to see him improve his ball handling and conditioning to reduce his sometimes sloppy or slow looking play.

Jerian Grant

I am glad the Bulls quickly came to their senses early in the season to move Grant to the bench in favor of Dunn. Grant is just an okay player at this point. On a better team, he might only be the third-string point guard, instead of the alternating first/second string point guard as he has been for the Bulls. I honestly, couldn't tell you any particular strengths in Grant's game. He is just okay. I doubt the Bulls plan to keep him as a backup long term, especially if they decide to get another point guard in this draft to add alongside Dunn.

David Nwaba

I would like to see the Bulls keep Nwaba. He needs to improve his shooting and overall offense some more but his strong defense already has made him a valuable bench player. If his defense can continue to get even better and Nwaba becomes even somewhat of a shooting threat, Nwaba would be worthy of a starting role. Even if he doesn't improve his game any further, Nwaba is a valuable role player for any team needing a defensive presence off the bench.

Cristiano Felicio

Felicio had a pretty disappointing season spent going back and forth between the team and the G-League. With his $8 million per year contract, I was hoping for more. For a rebuilding season, Felicio only helps the cause but going forward he needs to be more worthy of the contract once the Bulls start trying to compete for a playoff spot again. Even with RoLo and Portis seeing some minutes at the 5, the opportunity was there for Felicio to solidify himself as the backup center but he never really rose to the occasion. 

Cameron Payne

No.

Paul Zipser

I don’t see Zipser as a long-term member of this bench unit. I couldn’t even tell you what his specialty is. His contract is not guaranteed for next season but if he does return to the team next season, don’t expect him to see much playing time.