Hoops4theSoul

May

11

Chicago Bulls Season Grades: Kirk Hinrich

Filed Under Analysis/Commentary, NBA, Chicago Bulls

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Kirk Hinrich and Bulls Head Coach Vinny Del Negro (AP) Kirk Hinrich Pumped Kirk HinrichAfter six years as a Chicago Bull, Kirk Hinrich has finally seemed to find the right spot for himself on the team: as the team’s first guard off the bench and lockdown defender.

For Hinrich, his career as a Bull has seen him go through several different roles.

Drafted with the seventh overall pick in the 2003 NBA Draft, Hinrich was basically a reactionary pick by Bulls General Manager John Paxson after 2002 draft pick Jay Williams injured himself in a horrific motorcycle accident.

The Bulls needed a point guard, and Hinrich was the best guard available at that spot.

After a slow start, Hinrich improved throughout his rookie 2003-2004 season, leading Bulls Head Coach Scott Skiles to say he was the team’s best player.

During the next four years, Hinrich was a key figure in getting the Bulls to the playoffs three times.

Early in those runs to the playoffs, Hinrich demonstrated flashes of being a star in the league and seemed at least to have the point guard position locked up for years to come.

Later on, Hinrich appeared to have peaked as a player who was a great asset on defense but an inconsistent scorer and distributor on offense, one who was prone to overdribble and be a streaky shooter.

After missing the playoffs in 2007-2008, the Bulls lucked into the number-one draft pick and took outstanding Memphis point guard and hometown kid Derrick Rose.

For Hinrich, it was a clear move that the Bulls no longer thought he was the future at the point.

Still to his credit, he never had a bad attitude after the demotion. Proving himself to be a classy veteran, Hinrich had an interesting 2008-2009 season.

Just six games into the season, Hinrich tore ligaments in his right thumb. The injury required surgery and forced him to miss the next 31 games.

After returning to the Bulls in early January and rounding into form during the next month, Hinrich was nearly traded at the deadline to Minnesota in what would have been nothing more than a cost-dumping move.

With yet another reason to pout, Hinrich did not let the near-trade affect him. Rather, he stepped up his game, including a huge 24 point effort starting in place of the injured Rose against Detroit on March 12.

Come playoff time, Hinrich proved to be a nice sparkplug and stabilizer off the bench. Most importantly, he continued to be the team’s best defender, making Paul Pierce, Rajon Rondo and Ray Allen work for everything that they got against him in the playoffs.

It can be argued that the Bulls were at their best at the end of the season with Hinrich on the court.

In the end, Hinrich’s 2008-2009 season was a memorable roller-coaster ride marked by a demotion, a serious injury and near trade. Despite all of these obstacles, Hinrich never lost his head, thus earning good marks for his contributions late in the year.

Final Season Grade: B

Highlights: Hinrich averaged career lows in minutes (a little more than 26 minutes per game), points (9.9), assists (3.9) and rebounds (2.4), and he missed a career-high 31 games. Hinrich’s dip into production was expected with Rose’s rise to prominence.

Still, Hinrich proved to be a great luxury for the Bulls: basically being a starter coming off the bench. It was apparent in Hinrich’s absence that the Bulls really had no one else on the team who could play point, thus prompting Paxson to sign veteran Lindsey Hunter basically out of retirement.

Chicago’s late surge to the playoffs has been attributed mostly to the deadline acquisitions of Brad Miller and John Salmons from the Sacramento Kings, but Hinrich’s return to form from injury shouldn’t be dismissed. Hinrich played a huge role in the push to the playoffs as he allowed the Bulls to go to interesting three-guard lineups with Rose and either Ben Gordon or Salmons.

In the playoffs, Hinrich provided a nice boost off the bench, scoring in double figures in 5 of the 7 games against the Boston Celtics. His most important contributions came from his defense and toughness. Late in those games, Hinrich was on the floor because of his wonderful ability to get in the opposition’s body without fouling and playing strong man-to-man on Boston’s perimeter stars.

Hinrich also displayed a toughness that was missing from the Bulls at times in the series when he said enough was enough after Rondo threw him into the scorer’s table at the end of the first quarter in Game Six. Missing 51 games proved to be a blessing in the playoffs as Hinrich had fresh legs to throw at the Celtics.

All in all, Hinrich showed what a captain is supposed to bring to his team. While not necessarily the best player on the floor, Hinrich proved to be a great leader who accepted what was dealt his way and still worked his hardest when in the game.

From mentoring Rose to supplying defense off the bench, Hinrich was a true professional, something that should not be lost in today’s NBA where it would have been easy for him to have an ego and be a cancer (Larry Hughes).

An Appreciation for Hinrich: My feelings toward Hinrich have changed throughout his six years in Chicago.

During his first couple of seasons, I really enjoyed Hinrich and his work ethic, which coincided with Chicago returning to the playoffs.

When the Bulls committed big money to Hinrich at the start of the 2006-2007 season, I thought he didn’t take the next step but rather showed his limitations. In other words, Hinrich wasn’t going to get that much better, and expectations for him within the organization were not realistic. Furthermore, he became more of a perimeter player as opposed to getting into the lane and using his decent athleticism.

At the end of the day, Hinrich is a guy who has to work so hard on the floor, especially on defense, that it affects his offensive game, especially when logging major minutes.

Coming into this year with Rose now in the picture and starting, I didn’t know what to expect from Hinrich. After watching him in the season opener against Milwaukee (a game in which he scored 15 points), I was really impressed with his stabilizing influence off the bench.

As the year progressed, my appreciation for Hinrich as a ballplayer really came back. Without having to run the offense as the team’s starting point guard, Hinrich was able to focus on being the hard-nosed defender that this defensively-deficient team needed.

It’s much easier to appreciate Hinrich’s hustle and ability to do all of the small things when he’s coming off the bench. In some ways, he’s become what Andres Nocioni used to be when he first came to Chicago and was playing off the bench.

What’s Next? The Bulls have a lot of money invested in Hinrich (roughly $10 million per year) and would likely have to trade him to keep unrestriced free agent Ben Gordon around.

In years past, I would have had no problem trading Hinrich to keep Gordon and his dynamic scoring. Now I wonder how the Bulls can survive without both of these guys, most notably Hinrich’s defense and Gordon’s offense.

The Bulls really took a step back defensively as a team under first year Head Coach Vinny Del Negro, who plays a poor man’s version of Mike D’Antoni ball.

Can the Bulls afford to lose Hinrich’s defense?

How bad will this team be defensively without Hinrich?

Yet the question remains: can the Bulls survive without Gordon’s big-time scoring?

While it would seem easy that other players (obviously Rose, Salmons and Hinrich) will step up the scoring if Gordon leaves, it must be remembered that Gordon has been the best scorer on this team for five years and that he has a flair for taking and making the big shot.

If traded to keep Gordon around, Hinrich would seem to be a good fit for a team like Portland, which is loaded with young players that the Bulls could take back.

Unfortunately, the Bulls have a lot of money curiously invested in the soft Luol Deng, and his contract will likely cost the organization Hinrich or Gordon.

In a perfect world, the Bulls would be able to keep both Gordon and Hinrich as this season was one in which my appreciation for their strengths as opposed to their weaknesses really reemerged.

In the end, I think the Bulls will find it too hard to sign Gordon and lose him in free agency, meaning that Hinrich will remain a valuable yet very expensive backup.

It’s a tough call for the Bulls to make, one that may not have been necessary if the organization did not show such weird faith in the hardly inspiring Deng.

I’ve been a fan more of Gordon than Hinrich in the past, but really liked what both players brought to the team in the playoffs.

I think if you have that much money invested in a bench player, it would have to be Gordon, who would need to accept being the sixth man. If so, he would be a candidate to win Sixth Man of the Year every season.

If Hinrich is the guy staying, making that much money, and coming off the bench, he is not going to be a Sixth Man of the Year candidate but rather an energizer who does a lot of the little things really well.

There seems to have been a shift in philosophy with the Bulls stressing offense as opposed to defense under Del Negro.

So does that make Gordon a higher priority than Hinrich?

That’s the key question to follow with the Bulls this summer.

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