The additions of Rajon Rondo and hometown hero Dwyane Wade to the Windy City caused a lot of excitement for Chicago Bulls fans, but also raised lots of questions for head coach Fred Hoiberg.
Rondo and Wade are both notoriously bad shooters from three-point land (29 and 28 percent career-marks, respectively) and now join another deficient long-range shooter in All-Star forward Jimmy Butler (31.2 percent last season).
The departure of Pau Gasol — a crafty, versatile forward/center hybrid that can stretch his game from the post to the three-point line — has left a giant hole in the offense that will be hard to fill.
The only true three-point weapon in their starting lineup is three-year forward Nikola Mirotic, who shot it at 39 percent last season, making two three-pointers per game.
Big 3 stepping up from three
However, Wade told reporters after a 121-105 preseason win against the Indiana Pacers that “he, Jimmy Butler and Rajon Rondo have been encouraging each other to shoot threes and feel comfortable doing so.”
Wade has shot 5-of-7 from deep during the first three games of the preseason, including a 3-of-4 shooting night against the Pacers on Saturday.
Rondo has become an improved three-point shooter over the past two seasons, making a career-high 62 three-pointers last season to go along with a 36.5 percent mark, which is another career-high.
Butler shot it at a respectable 37.8 percent during the 2014-15 season. If he could find his stroke again — at least enough to keep defenders honest — the Bulls should be able to hide their long-range deficiencies without chucking up a reckless amount of attempts during the season.
The Bulls are built to be a run-and-gun team with three players that like to push the pace on the fast break. There will come times, however, when opponents will be determined to lock them out of the paint and slow down their transitions, forcing them to beat them from the outside.
The trick is for the trio to make enough threes to keep the defense honest. Once an opponent knows they're a one-trick pony, it won't be long until the rest of the league catches up to the strategy.
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