The Chicago Bulls made the most noise in the 2021 offseason.
The front office acquired two-way point guard Lonzo Ball and all-star forward DeMar DeRozan to team up with all-stars Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic. These moves brought the Bulls from irrelevancy to a playoff team.
Chicago is looking to build on its previous success to remain a top team in the Eastern Conference. Unfortunately, Lonzo suffered a left meniscus tear and missed the rest of the season last year. Ball is still rehabbing his injury and could potentially miss this season, too.
Luckily, the Bulls made another move in 2021 that is helping to fill the void at point guard so far this season.
HOMETOWN HERO
A Chicago native, Ayo Dosunmu was drafted in the second round by the Bulls last season. His rookie year was decent as a rotational guard, but heading into this season, Dosunmu was named the starting point guard. The young Bull went to Ball for advice, learning he needed to manage the game and know where his teammates like to get the ball.
Safe to say he heeded Ball’s advice.
NUMBERS MANIFEST PROMISE
Dosunmu quickly stepped into the starting role and has proven to be the answer to their point-guard situation.
This year, the 6’4 guard is averaging 12.6 points, 4.1 rebounds, 3.2 assists and one steal per game on 51/38/100 shooting splits. Dosunmu also has a true shooting percentage of 59.1% and an effective shooting percentage of 57.3%, which rank third and second on the team, respectively.
These numbers aren’t jaw-dropping, but keep in mind he’s only in the dawn of his sophomore season.
Last year, Dosunmu started in 40 of the 77 games he appeared in. With the Ball injury, Dosunmu was competing with Coby White, Alex Caruso and Goran Dragic to be the starting point guard. Head coach Billy Donovan had Dosunmu run with the starters in the last three preseason games, and it was enough for the team to name him the season starter.
So far this year, Dosunmu has demonstrated that he can step up and be a reliable scorer when needed and run the offense. While his offensive production is solid, the Bulls didn’t draft him for one side of the ball.
DOSUNMU’S DEFENSE
His best effort has come on the defensive end as he has been able to defend some of the best guards in the league.
Against the Brooklyn Nets, Dosunmu had the task of guarding Kyrie Irving. In the first half, Irving was held scoreless for the first time in a half since 2018. Irving finished the game with four points on 2-for-12 shooting. Dosunmu finished with 17 points, three rebounds, four assists and three steals with a team-high plus-minus of +12.
Kyrie at half:
0 PTS
0-3 FG
0-1 3P
13 MINFirst 0-point first half since 2018. pic.twitter.com/8dsilW8wTt
— StatMuse (@statmuse) November 2, 2022
THE BOSTON KILLER
This isn’t Dosunmu’s only impressive game this season.
On October 24th, the second-year guard aided Chicago in a 120-102 win over the Boston Celtics as he dropped 22 points, six rebounds, two assists and one steal on 90/100 splits. This is nothing new, as Dosunmu has played extremely well against the Celtics so far in his career. He averages 15 points on 84.2% shooting from the field and 100% shooting from three in five career games.
The Bulls sit at 5-6 early in the season. Coach Donovan mentioned he’s “very, very optimistic” about Ball’s progress with his rehab. Although there’s still no timetable for his return, Chicago seems to be in good hands with Dosunmu running the offense.
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