From Flickr via Shinya Suzuki
Player:
Nazr Mohammed
Per game stats:
80 games played, 7 minutes, 1.6 points on 42.9% shooting, 2.2 rebounds, .3 assists, .5 turnovers, .2 steals, .4 blocks.
The Good:
Nazr was still able to set pretty good screens and play physical post defense. He also managed to play 80 games, remaining healthy and also hitting the ground running in a way he was unable to last season. He managed to remain relatively consistent in his impact on the floor. Having Mohammed around also allowed Noah to play fewer minutes than he otherwise might have done, which is a good thing given the concerns about Joakim’s durability over a long season, with lots of minutes.
The Bad:
He shot 42.9% from the field and his true shooting % was an abysmal 44.5%. Given his minuscule usage, Mohammed looks borderline unplayable on offense, though his screen setting and offensive rebounding remain positive contributions on that end and mitigate some of the damage his total inability to be any sort of scoring threat represents.
Mohammed is also only able to play spot minutes at this point, and ideally, the Bulls would have had a fourth big man and back up center who could sop up more minutes than Mohammed was able to provide. Joakim Noah leading the Bulls in minutes played, with his history of plantar fasciitis looming, is less than ideal. I wanted the Bulls to draft Gorgui Dieng very badly to fill that backup center role and based on the early returns for Dieng this season in Minnesota, it looks as though the Louisville product would have been a nice fit behind Noah.
Grade: C
Mohammed was exactly what you’d expect, no more, no less. Hard to find fault with him, but I would have liked to have seen someone better in this role. That’s on the front office, not the player, though, so a satisfactory C seems about right for Nazr.
Future:
After the Bulls were bounced from the playoffs, Mohammed seemed uncertain about whether or not he wanted to continue playing or try his hand at getting into front office work. Mohammed should not return to the Bulls in his current role of 4th big man in the rotation next year. The Bulls need more from that spot. The signing of the injured Greg Smith at the conclusion of the season to a guaranteed deal for next season would seem to indicate that Nazr’s time as the 4th big is up, but he could be brought back at the minimum salary as a 5th man in the big rotation, a sort of in-case-of-emergency-break-glass type player. That would be fine, especially given Mohammed’s familiarity with Thibodeau’s offensive and defensive schemes, professionalism, and veteran savvy. I don’t usually put a ton of stock in that stuff when it comes to actual rotation players, but for a guy that should never play unless something goes horribly wrong and will likely be more like an extra coach than a real player, I think they’re things okay to consider.
Statistics cited in this post via NBA.com/stats.
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