Can fearless Bulls shooter Onuralp Bitim become the next Max Strus?

HOUSTON – Onuralp Bitim doesn’t operate from a place of fear.

That was instantly noticed by his Bulls teammates when the organization pulled him up from the G-League Windy City Bulls and made him a permanent fixture in the rotation a few months back.

“He has stepped right in, and it’s felt like he was playing with us for years with the way he handled stuff,” veteran big man Nikola Vucevic said about the player they simply call OB. “And no, there is no fear in his game.”

Why should there be?

Life in the Turkish League isn’t always great. Visiting arenas make sure of that. But life in the Turkish League at the age of 16 or 17 years old? Let’s just say it’s grow up quickly or get out.

“Gyms are smaller and you hear a lot more,” Bitim said of growing up and playing in Turkey and the EuroLeague. “And most of the teams there have a soccer mentality, so they are all chanting together, not separate, and most of the fans, groups, are texting each other before the game or meeting somewhere, preparing for the game, what they are going to do as a show, what they are going to scream at you and your team, the players they are going to go after. It’s much more intense.”

So taking a contested three with Rockets guard Jalen Green closing out on you in a close game? Safe to say easier than dodging bottles, coins, and other unknown sharp objects thrown at your head.

“I’ve been on the court when people are throwing anything they have in their hands,” Bitim said with a smirk. “It’s not every game, but it’s pretty often.”

A similar memory Vucevic shares with Bitim.

“Here, there’s so many games that people tend to forget no matter what happens,” Vucevic said of the difference between the NBA and overseas. “There it goes a little deeper, they don’t forget. Coming from Turkey, that’s a good league and the fans are passionate. You better perform or you’re going to hear from them. I think that’s helped prepare OB for what he’s got to do here.”

And leads to the question of what Bitim can actually do here?

Is he a passing rotation player that the Bulls will move on from once the roster is fully healthy next season or can he be a Max Strus, who emerged as a fearless outside shooter and a player the opposition had to start accounting for?

That’s the unknown.

Coach Billy Donovan is the first to admit that Bitim has to improve his defense and understanding the speed of the game, but like Strus he can heat up and become a shoot-first, ask-questions-later type of threat. For a roster that can always use more three-point shooting, Bitim just might be an answer.

Tough to see that in his eight scoreless minutes of work in Thursday’s loss to Houston, but he was a huge boost in a Feb. 28 double overtime win against Cleveland, and did score 17 points in a showcase loss to the Mavericks.

There’s definitely something there, but the Bulls and Bitim just have to figure out what it is.

Miami stayed the course with Strus and watched him go from 6.1 points per game to a 2021-22 campaign in which he shot 41% from three-point range and was 10.6 points per night.

Now with the Cavaliers, Strus is a starter and lethal scorer when he heats up. The kick in all of this is Strus was once with the Bulls before knee surgery led to them eventually releasing him.

Could Bitim right that wrong?

“I don’t play with a lot of fear because of my experience and where I’m from,” Bitim added. “What can I be? I’m not a guy that thinks too deep about the future. I try to focus on what I have now, otherwise if I focus too much on the future, I might miss the now. We’ll see.”

Hopefully, so will the Bulls.