This past weekend, Japanese point guard Yuki Kawamura (河村勇輝 Kawamura Yūki) got called up from the Windy City Bulls of the G-League to play with the Chicago Bulls and so far, he is making an impact, averaging 5.7 points, 4.7 rebounds, 5.0 assists, and 1.3 steals in 21.3 minutes per game. Kawamura is currently on a two-way contract, signing his current deal a little under one month ago. He was previously on a two-way deal with the Bulls over the summer, but was waived before the start of the season. Kawamura clearly hasn't given up and is finally being rewarded for his efforts.
Listed at 5'7", watching Kawamura gives me flashbacks to watching Muggsy Bogues. A little guy out there among giants who is quicker and more tenacious than anyone else on the floor. Kawamura looks to facilitate first, but isn't afraid to take a shot when he has a look. He understands what role he needs to play in order to stay on the floor and he does it well. Being totally honest, when you watch him play, it's a little puzzling he is just now seeing the floor for the Bulls this season. But I guess that just goes to show how competitive the NBA is and how hard it is to see the floor when you are so undersized.
Going forward, it'll be fun to see how long Kawamura can stay up with the Chicago Bulls. Given we are more than halfway throng the season, the Bulls can play him pretty much whenever they want without having to convert his contract to a standard deal (two-way guys can play 50 games without having to have their contract converted). I'm sure that's part of why they've waited until this last weekend to call him up. If he keeps this up, I don't see why he won't be able to stay on the floor going forward. He's clearly making his presence felt and on top of that, he's entertaining. He's a guy that's gonna put butts in the seats and given that NBA basketball is about entertainment, that's certainly a plus for him.
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