Chicago Bulls: Doug McDermott Has To Break Out Of Slump

Chicago Bulls forward Doug McDermott must find a way to break out of his recent slump.

Chicago Bulls third-year forward Doug McDermott is no stranger to dealing with adversity. After the team traded up to acquire his services in the 2014 NBA Draft, McDermott struggled during his rookie season to say the least.

Not only did he average just 3.0 points (on 31 percent shooting from distance) and 8.9 minutes per contest, he also sustained a knee injury that limited him to just 36 appearances that year. This season, McDermott has undergone the league’s concussion protocol not once, but twice.

And after coming into the new year with a bang — reaching double figures in the first three games of January — McDermott has cooled down considerably over his last three outings.

In Chicago’s 109-94 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Jan. 9, McDermott scored just seven points on 2-of-6 shooting from the field in 25 minutes of action. He followed up that with a four-point showing against the Washington Wizards the next night, converting just two of his 11 attempts, including a rather forgettable 0-for-5 effort from three-point range.

Then, in the Bulls’ recent road loss to the New York Knicks, McDermott was again a non-factor as he scored just two points while missing on each of his five attempts. For those of you who care to do the math at home, McDermott has scored a total of just 13 points on 4-for-22 shooting over the last three games, including an abysmal 1-for-9 from beyond the arc. Simply put, that will not get the job done.

If those numbers aren’t bad enough, here is something that is even more telling of McDermott’s recent struggles. In the game against the Knicks, not only did Fred Hoiberg opt to start seldom-used rookie Paul Zipser in place of Jimmy Butler, who was out of the lineup to due to an illness, Hoiberg also allowed Zipser to play for nearly 10 minutes in the fourth quarter.

Whether the reason behind the decision had to do with having more size in the starting lineup or just wanting McDermott to play alongside Rajon Rondo with the second unit, it says a lot when a coach chooses to close out a game with a player who hasn’t seen much floor time this season.

Despite the recent stretch of tough outings, though, McDermott continues to remain confident.

“I’m mentally fine. I’m just not making shots right now,” McDermott said, via the Chicago Tribune. “That’s tough. I didn’t play well in (Washington) or (Thursday night). I just have to continue to work. I’ve been in the gym. You’re going to go through some stretches like this in the season. You just have to be able to work yourself out of it.

“I need to get some more shots in the flow of the offense. I feel a lot of times I’m kind of rushing it. Rondo did a great job. I just wasn’t making them. I have to get used to playing with Rondo if he’s going to come off the bench. I’m going to have to continue to work with those (second-unit) bigs because part of this is defenses have been all over me.”

One of the things that can be said about McDermott during his brief NBA career is that he has shown the ability to bounce back from rough stretches. Secondly, although his shooting numbers are down (42.5 from three-point range last season compared to 33.7 this season), his point-per-game average (9.7) is slightly higher than the 9.4 average from 2015-16.

That being said, there is still plenty of time for McDermott to turn things around as we approach the second half of the season. And as far as the Bulls are concerned, the sooner the better.