Nikola Mirotic, the former 2011 1st round pick out of Yugoslavia, has made an impact so far this season for the Chicago Bulls. With Taj Gibson, Joakim Noah and Pau Gasol all sitting out games this season, Mirotic has played nearly 20 minutes a game. Mirotic, more so than this year’s 1st rounder Doug McDermott, has found some rhythm in the Bulls offense, averaging nearly 7 points a game and 5 rebounds.
Here’s what CBS’ Sam Vecenie said about Nikola Mirotic, who ranks 6th on his 10 NBA Best rookie rankings:
Whenever Mirotic plays extended minutes, he produces. It’s that simple. Over his last six games, the Serbian marksman has scored nearly 12 points and added seven rebounds in 24 minutes per game. Who knows what his playing time will look like the rest of the season when Taj Gibson comes back, but the guy is pretty clearly an NBA-caliber rotation player, which can only be said about a select few of these guys. He always makes the extra pass, he knocks down 3-pointers at a high clip, and isn’t the defensive liability that many thought he could be prior to coming over from Europe. If he would get a normal minute distribution, I think he would be a good pick for rookie of the year. As such, he’ll just have to deal with coach Tom Thibodeau giving him inconsistent minutes.
Mirotic was only behind the 76ers’ K.J. McDaniels and Nerlens Noel, Bucks’ Jabari Parker, Timberwolves’ Andrew Wiggins, and the Nets’ Bojan Bogdanovic. Mirotic climbed up 6 spots from the previous week. Doug McDermott is ranked 15th on the list.
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