One of executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas’ priorities this offseason was to change the Bulls’ ‘‘shot profile,’’ and he continued to do so Monday.
Four days after adding guard Jevon Carter to help them stretch the floor, the Bulls agreed to terms on a two-year deal with forward Torrey Craig.
Like Carter, Craig is an aggressive defender whose outside shooting — on paper, anyway — should make life a bit rougher for the teams that throw frequent double-teams at guard Zach LaVine and forward DeMar DeRozan.
Carter shot 42.1% from three-point range last season for the Bucks, and Craig shot a career-high 39.5% from long range for the Suns. The hope is the Bulls no longer will rank at the bottom of the league in three-point tries per game.
The Bulls averaged 28.9 three-point attempts last season, the only team in the NBA at fewer than 30. It didn’t help that they also finished 16th in three-point percentage (36.1%) on the ones they made. That made a big difference, especially on nights the Bulls didn’t defend well in the first half of the season.
That’s why the Bulls’ 112.2 defensive-efficiency rating last season felt so empty. The Bulls finished fifth in that category but joined the Pelicans as the only teams in the top 10 defensively that didn’t make the playoffs.
A big factor in that was an inability to keep up with teams from three-point range. Forward Patrick Williams led the Bulls by shooting 41.5% from behind the arc last season, but their next-best three-point shooters were LaVine (37.5%) and guard Coby White (37.2%), whom they signed to a three-year extension last week.
The additions of Carter and Craig also will allow coach Billy Donovan to keep the same defensive schemes in place, disrupting the opposition in the backcourt and in points of attack on the pick-and-roll to help cover up the weakness the Bulls have at protecting the rim.
