I know that writing this without getting approval from the Chicago Bulls leadership committee is a direct violation of the ‘See Red’ Nation rulebook, but I’m willing to take the risk.
Where are the Chicago Bulls going? Do they truly want to compete in the East or just be a middle of the road team again? Do they still have a few more years in the lottery? Is the front office only concerned with being one of the highest revenue teams in the league? I am not convinced that Jerry Reinsdorf cares enough to make this a good team. I believe Gar Forman and John Paxson genuinely do want to make the Bulls good again, but they don’t know how to or what direction to go in. Jim Boylen wants to win, I think that is clear to anyone who watched the Bulls last year. His coaching style is a little outdated however and can come off as a hard-o high school coach. I do love Boylen, but I will admit that I don’t see him making a conference finals, ever. And as a Bulls fan, that’s all I want at this point. So how do the Bulls fix this? What can they do this offseason to no longer be laughed at by the whole league?
The Bulls have a very nice young core. If you scoff or laugh at this, then that proves that you actually haven’t paid any attention to the NBA team in Chicago…or you work for Slam magazine. Lauri Markkanen is the most important player on the Bulls. He made first team all rookie for the 2017-18 season and that wasn’t an easy year to do it. Lauri and Bulls fans had big expectations for his second season, but a shoulder injury in training camp caused a major setback. When Lauri came back he looked like the same player he did as a rookie, which isn’t bad, but everyone wanted to see more. Some of this was him and Lavine still trying to learn how to play off of each other and that took time. Lauri missed the first 23 games and Lavine had to be THE guy every night if the Bulls wanted a chance. Once they got over that learning curve and began playing well together, it was so much fun to watch. Lauri had an 11 game stretch from February to March where he averaged 26.5ppg and 12.6rpg. He was getting what he wanted and doing it with ease. Full on tank mode turned on at the end of the year and Lauri started getting less minutes. Eventually, he was shut down.
Zach Lavine had the best year of his career and proved that he can score at will and on anybody. Defense is important and Lavine improved this year, but he really only had one way to go. He’s a really good NBA player and is much more than the former dunk contest champion most people remember him as. Lavine can get to the basket with his absurd athleticism and is a good shooter from three-point land.
The final piece of the young Bulls core is Wendell Carter Jr. A top recruit out of high school, a stand out season at Duke that was overshadowed by Marvin Bagley, and then the seventh pick in the NBA draft. Carter is a versatile big who many have compared to Al Horford. He can play the four or five position, but the Bulls prefer him at the five while Lauri plays the four. He’s an excellent defender with great shot blocking ability. He shot horrible from three in his rookie year, but there is enough there to lead us to believe that he is a much better shooter than the numbers show in his very limited action during his rookie season. Unfortunately, Carter missed half of the season due to injury, so his second year will in a way double up as rookie season 2.0 for Bulls fans.
Honorable mention to the young Bulls core is Otto Porter. While he is a good NBA basketball player, he is extremely overpaid (one of the most overpaid in the league). But, the Bulls were able to take him on midseason due to their “cap flexibility”. Although the team is definitely better with him than without, I do not think he factors into the team’s future once his contract is over. Porter will almost certainly take a pay cut for his next deal and that deal will probably come from a team outside of the Windy City. For the next two years, he will be a key part of the Bulls and he does seem to be a very well liked player, as well as someone who plays and works hard on a daily basis.
Chandler Huthison, like Carter, missed half his rookie season due to injury and has been somewhat forgotten by Bulls fans. I believe he can be a solid player off the bench that provides depth, but that seems to be where his ceiling as an NBA player is. That being said, I think the Bulls will keep him on a cost controlled deal as long as they can to be a nice player off the bench who can help them in a variety of ways.
With Lavine at the two, Porter at the three, Lauri at the four, and Wendell at the five, that leaves an obvious hole on the roster – the point guard position. Kris Dunn is not the answer and that has been made clear in Chicago. So, how will the Bulls address this situation? There are three options: draft, trade, or free agency.
Draft
Heading into the lottery landing the second pick and taking Ja Morant would’ve been a good answer and in which case, I would be writing a very different article. With some bad luck, the Bulls landed the seventh pick. The last two years the Bulls have given us plenty to be happy with at the number seven spot in the draft. Lauri Markkanen has turned into the co-star of the team with Zach Lavine. Wendell Carter has shown promise and has a very high upside. The Bulls have shown they are capable of making the right pick and taking the best player available. For as much as the Bulls front office catches heat, they have always drafted well. They’ve had three bad draft night moves over the last 15 to17 years. Passing on Lamrcus Aldridge, drafting Marquis Teague, and trading up for Doug McDermott. Denzel Valentine was an odd pick and his career has been a neutral wash to this point. Outside of that, the Bulls have pretty much hit on every single draft pick. Gordon and Deng were great picks. Butler and Taj were good as well, especially for where they were drafted in the first round. Joakim Noah and Derrick Rose were both All-NBA players they took in the lottery. Kirk Hinrich was a great pick as he proved to be a good NBA player for years. Bobby Portis isn’t an all star, but for a guy taken in the twenties he has been good and helped the Bulls get Otto Porter a couple years later. Nikola Mirotic is another the Bulls drafted recently who turned into a good NBA player. If you can trust GarPax with anything, it is drafting well. Unfortunately, it ends there.
Jarrett Culver, Coby White, Darius Garland, Deandre Hunter, Cam Reddish, and even Sekou Doumbouya are all potential players the Bulls could go with at seven. The questions of where players will go begins at four so it’s safe to bet that half of the players listed above won’t be available at seven. Point guard is the clear need of the Bulls team, but what is unclear is how the Bulls will address this need. The draft or free agency? This would all be easier if the offseason schedule mirrored that of the NFL and free agency was before the draft. If the Bulls plan on answering the PG question in free agency, then you can take Coby and Garland off of the draft board. That leaves you with four wings who all have good potential as three and D wings in the NBA. Out of the four, Hunter might have the lowest ceiling, but he holds a high floor. His production levels could fit that of Otto Porter. If the Bulls love Otto’s play, they could ride Porter and Hunter for the next two years and hope Hunter develops well over his first two years, solidifying his sport as a starting wing on the team. This feels like the safest pick the Bulls could make with their selection.
My favorite of the four possible wings available is Jarrett Culver. Culver can just about do it all as a wing player. He knows how to score, he can guard the best player on the other team (probably not as a rookie, but he’ll get there), and he can get you rebounds. He isn’t selfish and he has shown he can get his teammates involved. He is a proven hard worker, has been the go-to guy on winning teams, and is a great teammate. I think in a couple years his offensive output could match that of Khris Middleton, who was recently an all-star in the East and the second best player on the team that had the best record in the NBA. I would be shocked if Culver fell past the fifth pick but if he did, I can’t imagine the Bulls would pass on him. Culver is going to be an excellent pick for the team that lands him, but I’m hoping that team will be from Chicago.
Cameron Reddish is interesting. You would’ve found him slotted at the third or fourth pick in mock drafts done in the fall, but after being the third option at Duke and having some struggles he has dropped a little. It is still possible for him to go as high as the fourth pick, but as low as the ninth or tenth pick. Reddish may have the highest ceiling after Zion, Ja, and RJ in this draft. Comparisons to Paul George have been thrown around since his senior year of high school. Cam Reddish with the seventh pick would not be bad at all, but there would be a lot of questions leading up to the start of the year. I’m also gonna go ahead and say that Reddish will be the MVP of the summer league. After Culver, I would prefer Reddish as next best option if the Bulls decide to go for a wing with their pick.
I am split between Hunter and Doumbouya. Hunter has the highest floor and Doumbouya has the lowest. However, Doumbouya’s ceiling is much much higher than Hunter and most other prospects in this draft class. The Bulls currently have Otto Porter on the roster, but a player like him is one that you can find in FA over the next couple years or draft in a year or two. If the Bulls had to choose between these two guys, I’d advise them to take the high ceiling risk and go with Doumbouya. If it doesn’t work – oh well. They’ll still have plenty of young talent on the roster.
If the Bulls looks to address the team’s biggest need and take a point guard, there are a couple options. One is to hope for a miracle and somehow land Ja Morant. Since that’s not likely, there are a couple more realistic options we can look forward to.
Coby White is my favorite potential draft pick for the Bulls. Loving college basketball and being a die hard fan of an ACC team (Florida State University) allowed me to watch a lot of White during his freshman season. And boy, was he fun to watch. If you want a reason to love White, read his piece for The Players’ Tribune. He’s fast, fun, plays with passion, never lets up, and has the best hair in the draft. The Bulls are in desperate need of a playmaker and although White may not be that right away, I still think he is the most realistic option to address the Bulls’ need at the one. Coby has shown that he can improve this part of his game over the past year. A knock on him coming out of high school was that he was a score only point guard. But, he took great leaps and strides in his playmaking abilities during his lone year at Chapel Hill. White wants to improve and be the best that he can be. He will be in Chicago as soon as he can, working his ass off if the Bulls decide to take him draft night. If Jim Boylen isn’t already in love with White he will be after he watches him practice for the Bulls. Boylen catches grief for acting like a high school gym teacher at times, but he will love the passion, drive, and motor that White has every time he hits the court.
Darius Garland. Now he is an intriguing prospect. Some think he is a can’t miss and might be the second best player in this draft, and others (rightfully so) are concerned because he barely played during his single season in college due to injury. Even so, Garland has loads of talent and seemingly has everything you want in a modern point guard. He is a knock down shooter and is creative in his play making. His ceiling is that of Damian Lillard. Obviously every team in this draft would take him if they knew they were getting Dame, but reaching the ceiling is far from a guarantee. Garland wouldn’t be a bad pick for the Bulls at all. Fans across the country would be cheering the whole off season if they got Garland, but it is not very likely he gets to the Bulls. Rumors of him jumping RJ at the third pick are surfacing and the Pelicans could take him with the fourth pick, even with recently acquiring Lonzo. It’s possible the Cavs go for him, but not nearly as likely. The popular landing spot for Garland is with the Suns with the sixth pick, teaming up with Booker in the Phoenix backcourt. Garland will make an NBA team very happy on draft night, but that will likely happen before the seventh pick.
Another point guard option for the Bulls would be to trade down and look to grab a player such as Nickeil Alexander-Walker. His cousin, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, had a fantastic rookie season with the Clippers, and he and Nickeil share a lot of similarities. I don’t believe he is worth the seventh pick, but if the Bulls are able to trade down and acquire a second first round pick this year, or a future first, I would be a big fan of that.
Coby White is my number one choice for the Bulls come draft night. Following him is Jarrett Culver. That being said, if any of the above mentioned players are taken by the Bulls I will be extremely happy and excited for what is to come.
Free Agency
The Bulls are not going to make headlines during free agency or sign max level players, but they could make themselves a playoff team and a future contender during this offseason if they make the right moves and everything pans out. There are two or three players that I would love for the Bulls to go after.
I think the most realistic big signing for the Bulls in free agency is Malcom Brogdon. He is a restricted free agent, meaning the Bucks have the opportunity to match any offer sheet the Bulls or another team gives and keep him. Luckily for the Bulls, it looks like the Bucks will not be able to match what Brogdon will command on the open market. The Bucks just made a trade to Detroit getting rid of Tony Snell which freed up 4 million for next season. If the Bucks sign Middleton to the max as they are expected to and don’t dump any more salaries and don’t pick up the team option for George Hill they will be 11 million under the projected cap. If they decide to keep Hill, then they will be about 6 million over the expected cap. The Bucks will find ways to free up cap space in hopes of retaining Brogdon, Lopez, Mirotic, or any combination of the three. Due to the amount of money Brogdon will get on the market, I don’t see him back in Milwaukee. The Bulls will have more than enough cap space to give Brogdon a good deal.
If the Bulls get a wing in the draft, you can bet that the front office will be ready to drop the bags on Brogdon come July 1. If all goes well for the Bulls and Brogdon signs the offer sheet, the Bulls will be in a great position. Last year, he shot 42% from three, 50.5% from the field, and 92% while averaging 15.6 points per game. This was the former rookie of the year’s third season in the NBA and by far his best. He would be a great fulfillment to the Bulls’ need at point guard.
I don’t love many realistic wing options for the Bulls in this free agency class, but the other free agent I would love to go after is Chicago’s very own Patrick Beverly. Beverley is 30 years old and has never been a star in the league, but he has been loved by every team he has ever been on. He is tough. He is a fighter. He is fearless. He has a heart every coach in the world would love to coach. The Bulls could draft a wing or point guard and I would still want this pick. What Beverly could bring to this Bulls team is worth more than any stat sheet or analytic nerd could tell you. He would push the young guys like they’ve never been pushed before. He embodies the tough Chicago attitude in the way he plays and he has been open about how he would love to play for the Bulls. He recently said that he “believes he could save the city.” Draft a wing and make Pat Bev the starting point guard for the next two to three years. Even if the Bulls draft a point guard, I would still love to sign Pat Bev. But, I’d like him to kick off the season as the starter and eventually become the team’s sixth man, letting White or Garland take over the starting role. If the Bulls are able to free up cap space and sign Brogdon and Beverly, and convince Bev to be the team’s sixth man, I will be one happy man.
The Bulls will still have plenty of questions that won’t be answered this offseason. And they will still be a couple years away from seriously competing. But, Thursday night will hopefully provide one of the final pieces of the Bulls rebuild and give fans a better idea of what to expect in free agency and for the 2019-20 season. I’m pumped. Hopefully I will go to bed Thursday night anxious to get the season started with White or Culver as the newest Bull. Even so, if any of the above mentioned players are taken, I will still be very excited for their future in Chicago.
