After running on the hamster wheel for a few seasons, the Chicago Bulls are starting to re-haul their roster. DeMar DeRozan is on the Kings, Alex Caruso is on the Thunder, Lonzo Ball is still hurt, and Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic are on their way out of Chicago in the not-too-distant future. The Bulls’ future is starting to crystalize itself for management and the fans. Young and raw, talented players are at the forefront of the future for the Chicago Bulls.
Whether it be the fresh faces like Josh Giddey and Matas Buzelis or the returning cast of Coby White, Patrick Williams, Ayo Dosunmu, and Daelen Terry to join the veteran duo of LaVine and Vucevic, it is going to be a different team this year for the Chicago Bulls. The postseason is a far stretch for Billy Donovan’s crew, but they hope they can develop their young players and showcase their veterans to unload them to true contenders before the trade deadline.
Transitional Era for the Chicago Bulls
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Teams are often ruined by injuries and how they disrupt chemistry or an organizational timeline, and this iteration of the Chicago Bulls certainly falls in this category. With Lonzo Ball at the point, the Chicago Bulls were firing on all cylinders and bucking a trend developing in front offices everywhere: either build a super team or tank. By picking up available assets like Vucevic and DeRozan and pairing them with free-agent acquisitions, the Chicago Bulls tried a new direction to building a contender.
This direction seemed to be going favorably for Chicago Bulls brass Arturus Karnisovas and Marc Eversley. But it took off on a new path when Lonzo Ball was injured. The path was one that the team would never recover from. Ball still hasn’t recovered from his injury, and the team he once spearheaded has dissipated. Since being one of the best teams in the Eastern Conference, the Bulls have been mired in mediocrity, barely clinging to a spot in the postseason by annually competing in the Play-In Tournament.
After losing to the Atlanta Hawks in the 2023-24 Play-In Tournament, the Chicago Bulls decided to shake things up after holding on to their vision of a great team for almost three years after any evidence was shown on the court. The thought of creating a formidable team in a new fashion has been disregarded, and the Bulls are heading for a more traditional team-building strategy.
DeRozan and Caruso are gone, yielding a pair of young players and some draft picks. Andre Drummond left via free agency to play for a true contender in Philadelphia. The exodus from the Windy City is not over yet.
Nikola Vucevic and Zach LaVine are next on the express out of Chicago once the team can find a willing trade partner. LaVine was floated in multiple rumors during the offseason. Detroit, Washington, and Golden State were among the potential landing spots for the UCLA guard.
But after no bites on trade packages, it is now reported that the Bulls will have to tack on draft capital to move off of LaVine’s contract. There have been similar rumblings about Vucevic, but not to the extent of LaVine, and Chicago is confident that they will find a destination for Vucevic by this year’s trade deadline.
How the Chicago Bulls Move Forward
In the wake of these team stalwarts leaving or on their way out, a new crop of players are ready to take their place or assume a new role on the team. In the absence of LaVine over the last couple of years due to injury, Ayo Dosunmu and Dalen Terry filled in nicely.
They added defense while filling in the holes on off-ball offense and letting other players assume the playmaking duties. Patrick Williams and Julian Phillips are expected to pick up a lot of wing responsibilities with DeRozan gone. Williams had been injured for much of last season and is coming into this year on a new five-year contract, cementing himself as a part of the Chicago Bulls’ future.
No one is more set up to be a part of that future than Matas Buzelis. Buzelis was selected 11th in this summer’s NBA Draft and has already been turning heads with his play in the Summer League. Buzelis will be a tough matchup for many teams in his rookie year, and he explores what he can do on an NBA floor.
Josh Giddey was the return on the Caruso trade, and he is looking for a reset after falling out of favor in Oklahoma City. The 21-year-old Australian has a lot of upside and matches the Chicago Bulls timeline better than the Thunder. This will give him time to develop and improve on aspects of his game, namely perimeter shooting.
Returning from last year’s team and standing the most to gain from the change in franchise direction is Coby White. A finalist for Most Improved Player of the Year in the NBA a season ago, he will have more opportunities and a team around him more catered to his style of play. White has a path ahead of him to take another leap.
LaVine being out of the lineup gave White a lot of leeway with running the offense and controlling the ball early in the shot clock. With more autonomy in an offense without a plethora of proven, quality contributors, White will likely be the best player for the Bulls if LaVine is traded before the season opens or is not on the floor.
The Chicago Bulls have other pieces to complement his group. Players such as free agent acquisition Jalen Smith from the Indiana Pacers, trade chit Chris Duarte from the Sacramento Kings, and returning role players like JaVonte Green, Jevon Carter, and Torrey Craig.
Still, the core of the team is skewing younger and less experienced, meaning the Bulls will most likely miss the postseason entirely in 2024-25. If you ask Bulls fans, though, they might tell you it will be more interesting watching a team with a high ceiling build towards years in the future rather than a middling and capped team as they have been in recent years.
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