Dougie's Busy Summer

A forgotten man during much of his rookie season, Doug McDermott is looking to change that.  With a new head coach in Fred Hoiberg comes a new philosophy and McDermott will get the full experience of that in training camp.  Until then, he'll settle for the fruits of his own labor, part of which came during Summer League action.  Averaging 18.8 points on 48.8 percent shooting over five games, he was named to the All-NBA Summer League First Team.

It's common for incoming NBA sophomores who didn't fully blossom as rookies to play a second straight year in the Summer League.  McDermott fits that description like a glove.  Last year, he found a little bit of playing time early until knee surgery sidelined him long-term.  He never regained his place in Tom Thibodeau's rotation and averaged just 8.9 minutes over 36 games.  Most of the time, he saw the floor when a game was well in hand.

I aggressively advocated for the Bulls to draft McDermott and I was happy that they traded their two first-round picks in 2014 to get him.  I was looking forward to the reigning national player of the year creating some memories as a rookie.  Instead, Nikola Mirotic made the All-Rookie Team and McDermott was left far behind in the dust.  A couple of co-workers, who heard my constant lauding of the Creighton product, told me in jest not to advocate for the next Bulls draft pick.

So McDermott has to make me look better as well as himself.  He's already taken steps to build up his strength in the weight room.  Soon, he will be training with Jimmy Butler in California and be taking part in a high-level skills camp in Las Vegas.  Working on both his body and his game shows how aware he is of his disappointing rookie campaign and won't feel sorry for himself.

With Hoiberg still settling in, it might take another year before McDermott becomes the player we hope he can become:  one who can create his own shot and open opportunities for others.  Then again, we have no way of knowing how deeply Thibodeau's offensive philosophy (if there really was one) became ingrained in him.  Perhaps the lack of playing time made him miss things more regular players were prone to pick up.  If that's true, McDermott's real rookie season might be coming up.

Hoiberg needs offensive players to listen to his mainly offensive strategy.  McDermott could be the perfect project for him.  If all goes well, McDermott's success or failure could depend largely on what Hoiberg himself provides.  While Hoiberg has to worry about the other players, he might just focus on developing McDermott as much as looking for chemistry between Butler and Derrick Rose.

Now is the time for McDermott to show he didn't max out in college.  Hopefully, the guidance he receives from professional personnel will do him some good.  Of course, he has to be the one to provide his own results.  Those will determine if he has a long NBA career or will be looking back more fondly on his glorious college days.