Re-evaluating the Chicago Bulls
What path should the Bulls take moving forward?
The Chicago Bulls propelled their rebuild when Arturas Karnisovas (AK) and Marc Eversley (ME) took over the front office. The end of the GarPax era and the beginning of the AKME era were signaled by the trade for Nikola Vucevic. Followed that summer by drafting Patrick Williams, trading for Lonzo ball, and signing DeMar Derozan. Just a couple of seasons later, the organization now must make a decision again on the path they want to take.
Before jumping into their options, let’s first acknowledge what they have been able to accomplish in such a short time. The conversation on the future is only so devastating because the Bulls’ made incredible strides last season. They spent much of the season as the #1 seed in the Eastern Conference before falling to the 6 seed and making the playoffs for the first time since 2017. All this while Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso played only 35 and 41 games respectively.
With all of this success, there was a momentum building that the Chicago Bulls could make a deep playoff push with a fully healthy squad. DeMar Derozan played the role of the superstar after being legitimately in the MVP conversation in the 2021–22 season. The swift first round exit in the playoffs served as a reminder that Chicago was not quite measuring up to some of the beasts of the Eastern conference.
The hope going into the 2022–23 season was to build upon the previous year and come out healthy and strong. Unfortunately, more than 25% of the way into the year, Lonzo Ball has not yet come close to playing and the Bulls’ record is 9–13, leaving them at 12th in the Eastern Conference. The 2023 1st round pick is only Top 4 protected and will otherwise confer to the Orlando Magic. This means the Bulls must make a decision on their path going forward, and they must do so sooner rather than later.
Option 1: Stay the Course
While the 9–13 record gives a bleak outlook, there is an argument to be made that this team can still compete at a high level. They have played 2 competitive games with the league best Celtics, beating them in one of those two instances. They’ve beaten the Milwaukee Bucks as well, albeit without Khris Middleton. While only being able to point to a few instances may be discouraging, it shows that when this team is clicking and healthy, they could beat any team.
The thought process is the same as last year, when this team is at full strength, you do not want to face them. Lonzo Ball will make his way back to the lineup, Zach Lavine will continue to recover from his offseason knee procedure, and Billy Donovan will continue adapting his lineups to optimize his players. This week he officially moved Patrick Williams to the 2nd unit in an effort to promote more offensive aggressiveness from him and he took 9 shots in 10 less minutes of play than usual.
While the 9–13 start can bring on feelings of panic, they are a mere 3.5 games out of being the 4th seed in the Eastern Conference. This is not to say that they will immediately go on a run to make the leap, but it shows that outside of Boston, Milwaukee, and Cleveland, the Eastern Conference standings are open for climbing and once you make the playoffs, anything can happen.
Option 2: Re-tool
While the story above is nice, this Bulls’ roster as is will not be enough to make a competitive push towards the NBA finals. However, there may be some key moves available to help them get closer to doing so without tearing it all down.
There have been discussions since the offseason about the Bulls interest in pursuing Jordan Clarkson. For Chicago this brings a well established scorer who has shown his ability to play make for others as well. He can provide the flexibility of being a starter or bench player. For Utah, they bring in a young Coby White to see if he is a fit for their future and find a way to lose a few more games and inch towards Victor Wembanyama.
This one is a bit more difficult of a pill to swallow for the Bulls but along with the above move, it’s a win now trade. Lonzo Ball has no realistic timetable to return and Chicago can no longer afford to wait for his return. Keldon Johnson is a young player who can come in and make a difference now along with the veteran play of Josh Richardson. San Antonio in a similar fashion to Utah gets a young and excellent talent in Lonzo Ball, a recent 1st round pick in Dalen Terry, and a future 1st round pick from Portland, all while enabling themselves to continue their plunge for Wembanyama.
This would leave the new Chicago roster looking as such:
Guards: Zach Lavine, Jordan Clarkson, Ayo Dosunmo, Alex Caruso, Goran Dragic, and Josh Richardson
Forwards: DeMar Derozan, Patrick Williams, Keldon Johnson, and Javonte Green
Centers: Nikolva Vucevic, Andre Drummond, Marko Simonovic
It’s not a perfect roster, but it allows the Bulls to remain a bit more competitive without giving up any of their top assets and re-assess in the offseason if things do not pan out.
Option 3: Rebuild
To quote The Ringers’ Kevin O’Connor (KOC), the Bulls may be in a position to “blow it up”. The idea to stay the course and risk missing the playoffs and not getting a pick is daunting and compounds what some consider was a mistake in trading for Nikola Vucevic to begin with. Making some moves to re-tool does feel low risk if executed well, but could leave the team in a similar position as they currently stand. Meanwhile, Nikola Vucevic is set to be a free agent this summer and DeMar Derozan in the summer of 2024. It can be difficult to acknowledge that what you’ve built as a front office doesn’t work, but the biggest mistake AKME can make is doubling down and risking several more years of mediocrity as a result.
A full on KOC level blow-it up situation will involve the Bulls moving 3 assets in particular: Zach Lavine, DeMar Derozan, and Nikola Vucevic. These moves may be painful, but you have to imagine that AKME are having serious discussions behind the scenes about this. Bill Simmons has hinted at the below trades in a recent podcast, and Zach Lowe has confirmed some discussion on the Lakers’ side as well.
The most important factor in this path will be not conferring the Chicago 2023 first round pick to Orlando, which is Top-4 protected only. This sweepstakes for Victor Wembanyama is in a rare tier and with so many vying for the coveted first overall pick, Chicago would have to pull the trigger on a rebuild sooner rather than later.
The New York Knicks organization showed they were willing to part ways with assets this summer for a high level player. Zach Lavine dunking in the MSG would be a great consolation prize for the Knicks. They get the opportunity to set up their backcourt of the future in Brunson and Lavine without having to give up their young players. Converseley, they are able to get rid of Evan Fournier’s contract. The price they pay is a solid veteran presence from Derrick Rose and 3 first round picks, only 1 of which is their own. Given the trajectories of the Bucks and Mavericks organizations, their picks project to be middle-to-late round picks. For Chicago, they require more draft capital after having traded away many of their own picks. A homecoming for Derrick Rose is just the cherry on top, though I imagine the two sides working out some sort of a buy out to allow him to join a contendor.
There isn’t too much to be said about this trade at this point. It has been floated in NBA circles for quite some time and has been gaining momentum as the Lakers start to round into shape. While Russell Westbrook has really played well in his new role, DeMar Derozan is a clear upgrade over him, and arguably the move they should’ve made to begin with rather than the Russell Westbrook trade. Vucevic allows Anthony Davis to continue playing as a PF, which is his clear preference. The cost is the 2 coveted future first round draft picks, but the current Lakers front office knows that if they can’t turn it around now, they won’t be the ones making those picks anyway.
The Chicago Bulls played against the Golden State Warriors on Friday night, and this was seen right after the game. Needless to say, there’s going to be discussion between the teams if the Bulls choose to pursue a full rebuild.
The Golden State Warriors signed Donte DiVincenzo this offseason with hopes that he could come in as a solid bench player. He has shown some flashes, but overall has been disappointing. Moses Moody looks to have a bright future ahead of him, but with so many young assets accrued, he is the unfortunate cost of trying to win now with Stephen Curry still playing at such a high level.
Each of these pathways will be met with resistance from a faction of the Bulls’ fanbase, and rightfully so. As it stands, there is no right answer of what should be done, and this is why AKME get paid to make the difficult decisions. Every fan wants their team to remain competitive on a night basis, and this lends to more of a re-tooling arc but at the end of the day mediocrity will only end in frustration and heartbreak. Either a retool or rebuild would both be acceptable, but one thing is clear, the Bulls’ roster as constructed just will not be enough.
