Chicago Bulls small forward Mike Dunleavy undergoes back surgery, will be out

Dunleavy will probably miss eight to 10 weeks after a lower back procedure that was done on Friday, and the team will definitely need someone to replace his outside shooting. “Conservative measures failed to satisfactorily resolve his symptoms”. In the playoffs, he averaged 10.9 points and shot 48 percent from 3-point range. The team went 9-10 without Dunleavy, and even though there were other factors in place at the time that contributed to the teams struggles, it was clear that the Bulls missed his shooting ability and veteran experience on the floor.

Of course Jimmy Butler could also fill in at small forward, seeing that Butler does have a decent perimeter game.

Snell seems like the more likely candidate to start considering he’s more proven, but McDermott will get his fair share of minutes as well, and we can’t rule out the second-year man getting the nod in the starting lineup. The timing is unfortunate, but it was imperative that all conservative measures were exhausted prior to making this decision.

McDermott scored in double figures four as a rookie, with two of those coming in his first four games-his debut against the New York Knicks and five nights later against the Orlando Magic.

Dunleavy played all 82 games in his first season in Chicago in 2013-14.

The Bulls find themselves in familiar territory with questions still lingering about former MVP Derrick Rose after season-ending injuries to both knees in recent seasons, Taj Gibson recovering from ankle surgery and Joakim Noah hoping to show his knee trouble is a thing of the past. He has a great offensive mind. “I can see (Hoiberg) playing like the Warriors, going small and using shooters”.

Dunleavy eventually will be one of those.