Torrey Craig shouldn't be starting, implies report

The Chicago Bulls are running out of options.

© Kamil Krzaczynski-USA TODAY Sports

The Chicago Bulls have been a mess to start the season. The “Big 3” still doesn’t look comfortable playing together while Patrick Williams—the young forward the franchise had hoped would be the future of the franchise—has gotten off to a disastrous start. In fact, Williams had been so inconsistent that he was yanked from the starting lineup and replaced with veteran role player Torrey Craig.

It’s not to say, though, that it was the right move, explained Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report.

Not good enough

Williams was clearly not gelling well with the starters and putting Craig in seems to be the smart play for Bulls coach Billy Donovan. However, Buckley isn’t sure if it was the right move.

“The case for the Bulls to start Torrey Craig seems to be as simple as this: Hey, at least he's not as bad as Patrick Williams was in that spot. That's about as unconvincing as an argument can get, especially when Williams is the Bulls' only rotation regular sporting a single-digit player efficiency rating,” Buckley wrote.

“Good things happen with Torrey Craig on the floor.”@DonJulio | #SeeRed pic.twitter.com/bpDzgrBYbb

— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) November 8, 2023

Not up to par

Craig is a player who will not wow anyone with his stats. However, it’s the little things that he does—like hustle, defensive intensity, and spacing on the court—that make him valuable to the Bulls. However, his play ever since he entered the starting lineup has not been up to par.

“Now, Craig is the kind of player whose presence is most felt through hustle and defense, things which don't necessarily show up on the stat sheet. Even still, he's been particularly quiet by his own standards. His 38.2 percent field-goal shooting is the worst of his career, and his 4.8 points per game are his fewest since his rookie season of 2017-18,” Buckey shared.