Kris Dunn: Buying into
the Hype
During the 2016 NBA Draft there were very few players that
were being hyped up more than Providence Senior, Kris Dunn.
Coming off of a college career in which Dunn was a two time
Big East Player of the year (2015, 2016), two time First Team All-Big East
(2015; 2016), and two time Big East Defensive Player of the Year (2015; 2016)
Kris was a favorite amongst most draft pundits.
There were rumors before the draft that Dunn could go as high
as number three to the Boston Celtics as the top two slots were seemingly
destined to be Ben Simmons and Brandon Ingram.
As a fan, I remember watching the pre-draft shows and would
listen to expert after expert talk about how big of a fan they were of the
polished, matured PG that showed lock down defensive abilities and a knack for
finding the basket on offense.
Dunn ended up coming off the board, with the number five
pick, to the Minnesota Timberwolves, an up and coming young team that could use
a hard-nosed defensive player like Kris to help solidify their rotation.
One of the knocks on Dunn, as there are always people that
are looking for what’s wrong with a player, is that he was seemingly injury
prone.
During his time at Providence, Dunn tore is labrum just
before his freshman year began and then would have shoulder surgery after
playing just four games during his sophomore year.
As noted, he was able to battle back from these injuries and
rack up a number of prestigious awards during both his junior and senior years.
Just as it seemed Dunn had put the injury bug behind him, he
was forced out of the Summer League games, after scoring 27 points in his debut
and managing to play in only two games, due to a concussion suffered at the
hands of Raptors’ rookie Jakob Poeltl.
After recovering from this injury, Kris went on the have
quite a subpar and disappointing year for the T-Wolves.
Stuck behind starting PG, Ricky Rubio, Dunn managed to average
a little over 17 minutes a game while shooting under 40% and scoring under 4
points per game.
This was a surprising turn of events as Minnesota head coach,
Tom Thibodeau is known for implementing a “defense first” style on the floor
and Dunn has proven he strives on that end of the court.
During the off-season there were a number of rumors swirling
that Minnesota would be trying to trade Rubio, thus opening the door for Dunn
to take the reigns as the new floor general for the team but in a surprise move
it was actually Kris that was sent out of town.
The Timberwolves shocked fans when they sent Kris Dunn, Zach
LaVine, and the draft rights to Lauri Markkanen to the Chicago Bulls for
All-Star Jimmy Butler and the rights to Justin Patton.
After also buying out Dwyane Wade the Bulls find themselves
now in the unique ability to throw a bunch of young talent out onto the court
and see what happens.
Dunn, most assuredly, will be one of those players.
This will finally give Kris a chance to start on a regular
basis and show the NBA what he can do.
Along with Markkanen, Bobby Portis, Jerian Grant, Denzel
Valentine, Paul Zisper, Zach LaVine (once recovered from his torn ACL) and
veterans Robin Lopez and Nikola Mirotic the Bulls will certainly be an
interesting team to watch during the 2017-18 season.
As a fantasy sports player, I will certainly be drafting Dunn
in a number of leagues this year, as I firmly believe he could be comeback
player of the year and put up multiple 5 x 5 lines this season.
He will be surrounded by shooters, a couple solid big men,
and a young star that I feel is vastly over-looked in Markkanen, which sets
things up for Kris to be able to control the ball and be the leader he was
originally drafted to be.
Call me crazy.
