NFL
By: Stephen Garner
The Chicago Bulls are a very busy team right now.
They spent all of the preseason below most pundits top-6 in the Eastern Conference, and quickly shut that down that projection.
They’ve spent weeks at the top of the Eastern Conference, but currently reside in 2nd place at 30-17 (5th best record in the league).
They’re amidst an ensuing ravaging of injuries that follows multiple Health and Safety Protocol stints. It’s caused their earned breathing room atop the East to have them usurped by the quietly dominant Miami Heat.
They have a roster filled with athletic exuberance, prolific scorers, skilled veterans, and a few blue-collar guys.
Amongst the blue-collar guys is the attention rightfully garnered by Alex Caruso and Lonzo Ball.
These two, both as a tandem and individually, simply wreak havoc on the opposition with unrelenting second efforts, high IQ risks, putting their body on the line, defending players twice their stature with guile, and bringing an infectious energy to balance their offense-inclined roster.
As these two snatch up nearly all of the glory in that role of “Floor Burn Kings,” there is also another entity of the Bulls roster that not only deserves but has earned his share of the stakes in making this tough tandem a tough trio.
Even crazier than his reintegration into the lineup comes as the announced tandem absence of the other two settles, with Ball scheduled to have left knee meniscus surgery “later this week” per Billy Donovan, and Caruso being sidelined for six to eight weeks with a fractured wrist.
I now introduce Javonte Green.
The Bulls acquired the 6’5 forward in a three-year trade last season as more of a salary fillers piece offloaded by the Boston Celtics.
He struggled to carve out a niche and role with last seasons edition with the bulls in the hasty “on the fly” situation.
Fast forward to this season and this rendition of the Bulls, and Green’s grit and versatility have gone from somewhat lost into the shuffle to both an asset and a commodity.
The Bulls are in a position where they have more than enough flash and frills on their roster, they now need to compile ancillary players to fortify what they’ve already constructed.
Green is perfect in that mold as a Swiss army knife.
In the absence of Patrick Williams, the Bulls struggled to find their 5th starter. After trying a few guys they settled on Green.
The Bulls have 5 lineups including Green that have compiled north of 50 possessions together of the season, and though it’s not solely his responsibility, each has a fairly positive rating in differential, entailing and supporting why he’s the correct choice.
I briefly spoke about Green last month as the Bulls unsung starting lineup insertion.
The rough and rugged Radford alum is averaging career-highs in points (6.0), rebounds (4.2), assists (1.0), steals (0.8), minutes (22.3), and win shares (1.8), making the absolute most of his first consistent stint in a rotation.
He’s an offensive rebound specialist who is fundamental with moving his feet both in space and in the post defensively to stifle typically bigger matchups, and his propensity for loose balls, deflections, and all the less glamorous entities of the game encompasses why he’s invaluable in his role.
In his new role, he’s corralling a career-best 7.0% of the Bulls missed field goals, ranking 99th percentile only behind Memphis’ Brandon Clarke for forwards per Cleaning the Glass.
The Bulls are an impactful +8.7 in his minutes at small forward (84th percentile) where 69% of his minutes are spent.
Even more, his +/- net rating per 100 possessions is +9.1, showing how much of a bully he is in impact when he’s on the court for the Bulls, versus when he’s off.
When out in space, he’s showcased his ability to slide and defend without fouling time and time again, most recently vs Siakam and the Raptors.
This' exactly what I'm talking about https://t.co/25Iml44JjI pic.twitter.com/qy1DB8LT4X
— Stephen PridGeon ☯️🏁 (@StayTrueSDot3) January 27, 2022
He has a great feel for cutting from the weakside to create easy scoring opportunities, like here.
He can also do a little creation of his own offensively, in the opportunistic realm, with a strong handle to attack closeouts (and finish with emphasis), and also go one on one when the opportunity sensically presents itself, like here.
His spot with the team and in the rotation is cemented, especially as the Bulls are thin at the forward position. He’s presently the sole source for that aforementioned infectious energy from the ancillary players, pay close attention to his play and impact and how it permeated through the team.
When they do get the cavalry back (Ball, Caruso, Jones Jr, *Williams), his impact will be more profound as it won’t be solely relied upon as it is in this moment in time. However, for the time being, he’s sure to bring that fire on a nightly basis and play his role as well as it can be.
As the Bulls slowly grow back whole and garner more successes, Javonte Green’s impact must not be forgotten.
