BOSTON – Nikola Mirotic rarely watched the NBA while growing up in Europe. Even as a promising professional player drawing American scouts, he still had only passing interest in the league.
But that changed the instant the Bulls traded up to get him with the No. 23 pick in the 2011 draft.
Mirotic, who signed a five-year contract with Real Madrid earlier that year, began watching nearly every Chicago game.
“I had to see maybe my future team,” Mirotic said. “So, I started following, and I really loved how they were playing.
“I was thinking, How can I adapt on this team? It was really important for me to imagine me on this team, and I really loved how Chicago was playing. They were a little bit playing like European, too. Team, they are sharing a lot of balls, playing plays.”
Mirotic didn’t learn his biggest lesson about the Bulls by watching them on televison, though. He ascertained it by simply waiting.
“I really saw how Chicago loved me in this time, because it was not easy to draft me,” Mirotic said, “because I signed for five years, and it was a long time that they need to wait for me.”
He’s proving he was worth the wait.
Mirotic is averaging 7.8 points and 4.6 rebounds in 18.0 minutes per game, modest numbers that don’t fully reveal his efficiency. He leads rookies with a 16.8 PER and 3.0 win shares.
In fact, Mirotic has more than double the win shares of any other rookie despite ranking just ninth in minutes among his class.
Just 11 rookies have doubled their class’s closest competitor in win shares:
- 1990: David Robinson (SAS), 15.1 win shares
- 1972: Clifford Ray (CHI), 8.7 win shares
- 1970: Kareem Abdul-Jabbar (MIL), 13.8 win shares
- 1966: Rick Barry (SFW), 10.4 win shares
- 1964: Jerry Lucas (CIN), 12.7 win shares
- 1962: Walt Bellamy (CHP), 16.3 win shares
- 1961: Oscar Robertson (CIN), 13.2 win shares
- 1960: Wilt Chamberlain (PHW), 17 win shares
- 1959: Elgin Baylor (MNL), 9.8 win shares
- 1955: Bob Pettit (MLH), 10.7 win shares
- 1951: Paul Arizin (PHW), 13.7 win shares
Nine of those 11 won Rookie of the Year. Ray and his 8.7 win shares lost to Sidney Wicks, who had 2.3 win shares. Arizin played before the award existed, but he claimed an unofficial unofficial retroactive version of the honor.
Yet Mirotic gets minimal Rookie of the Year support.
Andrew Wiggins is the clear front-runner (and my choice for mid-season Rookie of the Year). He fills a larger role for the Timberwolves and has fewer veterans around him, mostly excusing his volume-over-efficiency tradeoff.
But don’t dismiss how well Mirotic is handling what the Bulls ask of him .
He’s doing it in a historically unique way.
Mirotic has taken half his shots from beyond the arc, and he has attempted a free throw for every two field goals. No player has ever finished a season with a 3-point-attempt rate (3PA/FGA) and free-throw-attempt rate (FTA/FGA) both over 50 percent while playing as many as Mirotic already has.
Heck, just a few players – James Harden (2011 and 2012), Chauncey Billups (2011), Danilo Gallinari (2011), Jon Barry (1999) and Terry Dehere (1996) – have ever joined the 45%/45% club while playing regularly.
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