With Doug McDermott joining the Chicago Bulls it means you now have “Dougie McBuckets” joining “Jimmy Buckets.” (So get ready to hear those catchy nicknames over and over until you learn to love them)
Yes, Jimmy Butler and Doug McDermott will play on the wings in Tom Thibodeau’s offense, looking to be shooter/scorers to take the pressure off Derrick Rose. The Bulls acquired the 11th pick in the 2014 NBA Draft (Doug McDermott) and forward Anthony Randolph from the Denver Nuggets, for Chicago’s 16th and 19th picks and the lesser of the Bulls’ two 2015 second round picks (Chicago’s and Portland’s).
And with it, the Bulls have their new Kyle Korver; kind of.
McDermott spoke of Korver, who also went to Creighton, and about what he learned from the record setting shooter, on NBA Draft night with the media: “He’s a great friend of mine and a great mentor for me. He loved Chicago. He learned more defensively in his two years than he had his whole career.”
McDermott on working under Bulls Coach Tom Thibodeau: “It will be great for me. Defensive, hard-nosed guy and I think I’ll fit in great with him.”
Doug McDermott also talked about what he envisions his role with the Bulls to be. “I can come off the bench and provide some outside shooting could really help and take the pressure of their superstars Derrick Rose and Joakim Noah.”
I asked Bulls GM Gar Forman about the natural comparison between Korver and McDermott. He of course brought up a couple times how the juxtaposition is because they’re both good shooters, from Creighton.
“Doug has some versatility to his game, I think he’s crafty enough to get his own shot off,” Forman said.
“And we’ve seen him do that, he’s a guy that can run into the post, he’s got some footwork, some moves, quick with the ball around the basket. Kyle is a guy who’s done it for ten years at a real high high level, so I don’t want to put that on Doug, but obviously the comparison will be made.”
An efficient scorer from anywhere on the floor, McDermott should be a solid role player at the next level.
When you look at McDermott you obviously see Gordon Hayward and Larry Bird first. A big tall white guy who can create, penetrate, but also shoot threes with best of them. He’s a scorer, not a shooter. Doug McDermott hit five 3s and scored 23 points, and Creighton set a team mark with 21 3-pointers in a 96-68 victory over No. 4 Villanova this past season.
And then he followed that up with 39 points this week to do in Steve Lavin and the Johnnies in Big East play.
Obviously, he won’t be doing that at the next level. At least not right away.
“He’s the best player in the country,” said DePaul Coach Oliver Purnell of McDermott during the season.
“On an off night, he’s going to get 19. I just think he’s the best player in college basketball and you got to pay attention to him.”
And of course, he’s white. You now have him on the same roster with Jimmer Fredette, so you have two white guys who were highly publicized in their college basketball career, and stayed all four years, and swept all the college hoops player of the year awards. Obviously, this is the route that most Twitter users went on draft night first’ when the Doug McDermott pick was made.
Paul M. Banks owns The Sports Bank.net, an affiliate of Fox Sports. He’s also a frequent guest on talk shows across the world. Banks has been featured in hundreds of media outlets including NFL.com, Forbes, Bleacher Report, Deadspin, ESPN, Washington Times, NBC and the History Channel. President Barack Obama follows him on Twitter (@paulmbanks)