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Chicago basketball report: Bulls’ Ayo Dosunmu has the hot hand — and Simeon grad Aneesah Morrow hits 2,000 points

julia poe, chicago tribune
·7 min read

Ayo Dosunmu is making a major leap in his shooting. The Chicago Bulls lead the league in clutch minutes and overtime finishes as injuries continue to pile up.

Down in Louisiana, Chicago native and DePaul transfer Aneesah Morrow tallied her 2,000th career point.

Every Wednesday throughout the season, Tribune writers will provide an update on what happened — and what’s ahead — for the Bulls, Sky and local basketball.

Ayo Dosunmu is shooting at a record rate

This is the best shooting streak of Ayo Dosunmu’s three-year career in the NBA — and it’s coming at a critical moment for the Bulls, who have leaned on his explosive shooting through the past 15 games.

Dosunmu scored a career-high 29 points in Monday’s 136-126 victory against the Atlanta Hawks, delivering a much-needed spark to the Bulls offense in the second half. Nearly half of his points came from 5-for-7 shooting as Dosunmu continues a hot streak that stretches back to early January.

Through the past 15 games, Dosunmu has led the Bulls with 50.8% shooting from behind the arc on 3.9 attempts per game. His career average is 36.5% from 3-point range. Only Coby White averaged more made 3-pointers (2.8 per game) in that span.

Like most of his teammates, Dosunmu started the season on a shooting skid, averaging 36.8% from 3-point range on 2.1 attempts through the first 20 games of the season. He was averaging six points during that span while logging 16.8 minutes per game. But injuries have propelled Dosunmu back into the starting lineup, where he continues to thrive as a chameleon on defense, a catalyst in transition and an efficient scorer from behind the arc.

Sky sign Kysre Gondrezick and Chennedy Carter to training camp roster

The Chicago Sky signed guards Kysre Gondrezick and Chennedy Carter to training camp contracts as the front office works to reshape its backcourt for the 2024 season.

Carter and Gondrezick are former first-round draft picks who didn’t find their footing with their initial teams — a common occurrence in the WNBA, where rookies often struggle to find a spot amid tenured veterans on short-sided rosters. Gondrezick was the No. 4 pick in 2021 by the Indiana Fever and Carter was the No. 4 pick in 2020 by the Atlanta Dream.

After the departure of Courtney Williams and unsuccessful attempts to land top-name guards like Nneka Ogwumike and Skylar Diggins Smith, the Sky will likely look to promote fifth-year guard Dana Evans into the starting point guard position. But the team still needs to fill out a full slate of secondary guards.

Marina Mabrey will return to the starting lineup as a catalyst for the offense alongside Diamond DeShields, who will likely fill the flexible wing position she held in her prior tenure with the Sky. The Sky signed guard Lindsay Allen to a two-year contract out of free agency, bringing the total tally of guards on the roster to four. Guard Rebekah Gardner — who broke out through her defensive performance in her first two years in the WNBA — has yet to re-sign with the Sky or sign elsewhere.

The ultimate roster construction for the Sky will be contingent on who the team selects with the No. 3 pick in the WNBA draft on April 15. Training camp will begin on May 5.

Aneesah Morrow hits 2,000 career points

Simeon product and DePaul transfer Aneesah Morrow crossed the career 2,000-point threshold in an LSU win over Alabama on Sunday. Morrow tallied nine points and eight rebounds in the game. She is the second-highest scorer on the Tigers roster this season behind Angel Reese, averaging 17.3 points and 9.9 rebounds per game.

Morrow scored 1,570 of those points for DePaul, where she shattered the single-game scoring record (45 points), single-season rebounding record (457) and single-season scoring record (848) as a sophomore.

Larsa Pippen and Marcus Jordan split up

After nearly a year of dating, Marcus Jordan and Larsa Pippen have broken up according to a report by People magazine. The first speculation of their split began to swirl during the Super Bowl when Pippen unfollowed Jordan on Instagram and deleted their pictures together.

The pair — who are the ex-wife of Scottie Pippen and the son of Michael Jordan — were recently featured on the reality show “Traitors.”

Number of the week: 134

No other team in the NBA is living on the edge quite like the Bulls. The Bulls lead the league in clutch minutes (134) and overtime finishes (8) this season. Two of those overtimes and 43 of those clutch minutes were logged in the last 15 games of the season.

That’s piling up for a Bulls roster that’s already been hit hard by injury this season. Alex Caruso was the latest player to land on the injury report with a bruised toe. Patrick Williams will be re-evaluated this week for an ankle injury that already sidelined him for the past two weeks. And with Zach LaVine sidelined for the remainder of the season following surgery, the Bulls are leaning heavily on their primary rotation to carry the load — a burden made only heavier by this high volume of crunch-time games.

Week ahead: Bulls

  • Wednesday: at Cavaliers, 6 p.m., NBCSCH

  • Thursday: Off

  • Friday: All-Star break

  • Saturday: All-Star break

  • Sunday: All-Star break

  • Monday: Off

  • Tuesday: Off

What we’re reading this morning

This week in Chicago basketball

Feb. 14, 1990: Michael Jordan wears No. 12 after No. 23 jersey is stolen.

Officials questioned arena employees in Orlando and even searched the crowd for a fan with a No. 23 jersey large enough to fit Jordan, but to no avail.

The Bulls equipment manager found a No. 12 jersey with no name on the back, which may have been used at the time as a practice jersey. Jordan wore it, and it became known as the “Valentine jersey.”

Jordan scored 49 points against the Magic in a losing effort. After the game, Jordan told reporters it marked his first NBA game playing with a number other than 23.

Feb. 17, 1963: Michael Jordan was born in Brooklyn.

His accomplishments are numerous and unprecedented.

Six-time NBA champion. NCAA title with North Carolina. Two-time Olympic gold medalist. Rookie of the Year. Five-time NBA MVP. Six-time NBA Finals MVP. 10-time All-NBA First Team. Nine-time NBA All-Defensive First Team. Defensive Player of the Year. 14-time NBA All-Star. Three-time NBA All-Star MVP. 32,292 points during his 15-year career. Retired with the NBA’s highest scoring average of 30.1 points per game. Hall of Famer.

Jordan was part of the Bulls’ inaugural Ring of Honor class but didn’t attend the January celebration at the United Center. A video was shown of the legend at a gala for the class, which also included the 1995-96 team.

“I am so bummed that I can’t be there tonight but I don’t want that to stop the fun that you guys are going to have,” Jordan said. “I think we made an impression and changed what Chicago represents in terms of champions. Every time you look up in the rafters, I want you always to remember where we were and where we are. And we are always going to be champions. I will always be a Chicago Bull and I want them to continually do well. I’d like to see other banners in the rafters and I hope the city can always be proud of the Chicago Bulls.”

Quotable

“It’s kind of like with your spouse. It’s like: ‘What do we need to do to work on this, baby? Let’s figure this thing out. You want me. I want you.’ The love is there.” — DeMar DeRozan describing his dynamic with the Bulls front office amid contract extension negotiations