Antonio Blakeney and Bobby Portis play big at Rico Hines-UCLA run

Share

As we inch closer and closer to the NBA season getting underway, we continue to see footage trickle out of NBA players putting in work playing pickup basketball with other NBA and NCAA talent. 

The latest Bulls to be spotted in an offseason pickup game were last year's NBA G League Rookie of the Year Antonio Blakeney, and fourth-year forward Bobby Portis, with the former putting on quite the show. 

Last season Blakeney led the NBA  G League in scoring at 32 points per game, to go along with 3.9 assists, 6.6 rebounds and 1.25 steals. Portis turned in a solid season himself, putting up 13.2 points, 6.8 rebounds and 1.7 assists per game while shooting a career-high 35.9 percent from the 3-point line, and definitely thinks he should be in consideration for Sixth Man of the Year this upcoming season

Blakeney didn't get quite enough playing time (16.5 minutes per game) at the NBA level to put up big numbers, but when you look at his per-36 minutes statistics, his scoring potential is obvious. In 19 games with the (Chicago) Bulls, Blakeney averaged 17.3 points per 36 minutes, all while maintaining a high usage percentage (23.7 percent) and a low turnover percentage (6.4 percent). His main issues were with efficiency. Blakeney is a high-volume scorer, who finished the season sixth on the Bulls in shots per 36 minutes, right above Kris Dunn and Lauri Markkanen.

High-volume scoring can still be valuable, but not when you shoot 37.1 percent from the field and 28.8 percent from the 3-point line as Blakeney did in his 19 games under Fred Hoiberg and the Bulls. If he can get those percentages to trend closer to his NBA G League numbers, in which he shot better across the board, then Portis may have some good competition for Sixth Man of the Year on his own bench. 

Contact Us