Potential wing scoring options for Bulls

Restricted free agent Arron Afflalo (left) would be a good fit on the wing in Chicago. (EPA/Landov)

The Bulls are interested in signing a wing player with some scoring pop, according to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune and the common sense of anyone who watched the team last season. The offense actually wasn’t as bad as you might think; the Bulls ranked 11th in points per possession in the regular season, a mark that is better than it looks because they played in the stingier conference. And in the postseason, when their offense floundered, they still ranked sixth among 16 teams and scored at about an average rate.

Still, that playoff rate ranked last among the league’s final four, and every decision by Chicago now has to be made with the Heat in mind. That’s why upgrading the wing is an absolute must if this team, so close last season, wants to take the next step.

Keith Bogans can do his mini-Bruce Bowen thing, but he’s merely an average outside shooter who does not create the kind of floor-spacing fear that the Bulls crave. And he can’t guard small forwards, as the ideal Bowen type would. Ronnie Brewer can manage that — he did some nice work on LeBron James in the conference finals — but he lacks range and an off-the-dribble game. Kyle Korver might be the best shooter in the league, and he’s a smart defender, but he remains enough of a liability on defense (at least in coach Tom Thibodeau’s head) that Chicago has to scramble to hide him.

The Bulls’ offense scored like gangbusters with Korver at shooting guard last season. But Chicago had to hide him on Miami’s point guards in the playoffs, which in turn forced the overmatched (and exhausted) Derrick Rose to defend Dwyane Wade. Not good.

All three members of Chicago’s non-Luol Deng wing brigade will likely be back next season, but that doesn’t mean the Bulls should be complacent.

What sort of wing player should the Bulls sign? The ideal player would lean more toward shooting guard in stature because the Bulls have Deng to log 40 minutes at small forward, but it would help if Theoretical Free Agent could help Brewer spell Deng here and there. That preference for a shooting guard with some positional versatility would eliminate both true small forwards such as Tayshaun Prince, and, if taken to its extreme, it could rule out smaller shooting guards with no realistic chance against small forwards — Jamal Crawford and perhaps J.R. Smith, a popular choice in Chicago who did pitch in at small forward in some of Denver’s tiny lineups.

It’s tempting to say Chicago doesn’t need much off-the-dribble creativity from this player because of Rose’s presence. But it’s nice to have options, and Deng is inconsistent as the team’s second creator (though he can create offense both with and without the ball). Spot-up shooting from long range is a must — Chicago thrived with Korver curling around screens — but it would be nice to find someone who can work as a secondary post-up threat, pick-and-roll guy or whatever.

This is where things get tricky. Smith is a capable pick-and-roll player — a truly underrated passer when he feels like passing — but he drifts on defense, takes horrible shots and might be trapped in China until March. Crawford is a scoring force, but he needs the ball more than even Smith (a much better three-point shooter and spot-up threat than Crawford). Arron Afflalo, a restricted free agent, has shown some promise as a creator but has much to prove, and Jason Richardson may be losing this element of his game altogether.

Richard Hamilton looks the part, but he shot just 35.5 percent in isolation last season (via the stat-tracking service Synergy Sports) and barely ran the pick-and-roll, and he’s tied to the Pistons barring amnesty. Hamilton has never been a consistent three-point shooter, something the Bulls desperately need from any wing free-agent acquisition. Grant Hill, as versatile as he is, is primarily a small forward and thus redundant with Deng. Ditto for Shane Battier, who brings the range and the defense.

That leaves a couple of interesting alternatives (among others) to think about:

• Vince Carter  (pending buyout from Suns). Yes, I know: Chicago fans who are proud of their team’s frenzied defense just got uncomfortable. But Carter proved in Orlando that he could at least play his role in a sound defensive system surrounded by elite defenders (a status for which Deng and Joakim Noah qualify). Rose is progressing as a defender, though it’s worth worrying about the hit Chicago would take giving heavy minutes to two subpar defenders (Carter and Carlos Boozer).

Carter also proved in Orlando that he can work as a dynamite secondary pick-and-roll facilitator. On a per-possession basis, Carter was the league’s most efficient pick-and-roll scorer last season before being traded to Phoenix, according to Synergy. And that doesn’t factor in his solid passing. If Carter could approach 40 percent shooting from deep (a dicey proposition), he can help your offense.

• Caron Butler. Lots of questions here: How healthy is Butler’s knee? Can he replicate the three-point stroke he showed in Dallas last season (43.1 percent) — a career outlier? Can he work as a pick-and-roll threat without falling into his old ball-stopping, jab-stepping, jump-shooting habits?

And, perhaps most important: Can he play shooting guard consistently? He didn’t play the position at all last season, though that may have had something to do with the Mavs’ crowded backcourt; Butler played a significant chunk of his 2009-10 Dallas minutes (though not a majority of them) at shooting guard. Still, he was mostly a small forward toward the end of his time as a Wizard, and coming off major knee surgery at nearly 32 years old, it’s fair to ask whether Butler can chase Wade and Ray Allen types.

The perfect hybrid player might not be here, but that doesn’t mean you stand pat. And as I wrote over the summer, my first choice might be to chase Afflalo with a solid offer sheet and see if Denver matches. That’s easy for me to say, but the Bulls have some long-term payroll concerns. Assuming a maximum extension for Rose, they’ll have about $56 million committed to just four players in 2013-14, when the luxury tax will be twice as punitive as it was under the old system. (Chicago should be making boat loads of money by then, though.)

Afflalo probably represents the best combination of youth, potential, two-way skill and ability to realistically slide to small forward when needed. (He did this often in Denver.) But he’s not the only choice, and a few more might hit the market via amnesty. The Bulls have to be ready to pounce because the window is open.