With the Bulls being hit with a plethora of injuries, now is the time to give their Two-Way players a chance in the NBA.
The Bulls have recently been hit with a plethora of injuries. First, Coby White re-aggravated his calf strain, and then Josh Giddey suffered a hamstring issue if his own. On top of that, backup center Zach Collins--who had been playing great as of late as part of Billy Donovan's "double bigs" lineup(s)-- is out for several games with a sprained right big toe. With all of the injury misfortune hitting the Bulls at once, I think it is fair to say now is as good of a time as ever for the team to provide some valuable NBA experience for their Two-Way Contract players,
In the NBA, a two-way player can be active for a maximum of 50 regular-season games with their NBA club while splitting time between the NBA and the G League with the limit prorated if signed mid-season. They are also ineligible for playoffs unless their contract is converted to a standard NBA contract. Teams can have three two-way players, and if a team has fewer than 15 standard players, there's also a combined 90-game active limit for all their two-way players.
The Chicago Bulls Two-Way Contract players are Trentyn Flowers, Emanuel Miller and Lachlan Olbrich. While it is quite possible--and to be honest, likely--that none of these players end being in the Bulls long-term plans, there is quite legitimately no reason for the Bulls not try these players in een limited rotation roles with the injuries to White and Giddey. The loss of the Bulls' starting backcourt to injury technically frees up just under 61 minutes per game of playing time.
Flowers, Olbrich and Miller have all had varying degrees of success at the G League level.
Miller is averaging 17.4 points and 6.0 rebounds per game, while shooting 37.5% from 3-point range on 3.2 attempts per game. Olbrich is fourth on the team in scoring with 19.1 PPG, and leads the team in rebounds at 8.5 per game, with nearly 33% of those being offensive rebounds. Flowers is the lowest scoring of the bunch at 12.1 PPG but is knocking down 43.9% of his 2.3 attempts per game from 3-point range, which leads the Windy City Bulls among players playing at least 18 minutes per game.
Olbrich could slide in and take Collins' minutes, and it helps that he already has five games of (albeit limited) NBA experience from earlier in the season. Meanwhile, Flowers and Miller would provide more options at forward. This would be beneficial for Billy Donovan's rotation, which had recently eliminated Patrick Williams from the rotation, only to bring him back out of necessity. It is possible that none of the Bulls two-way players are "diamonds in the rough," but we won't know until they have a shot at a real rotation roles at the NBA level.