Damian Lillard traded to the Bucks, the Suns almost getting a completely new roster since their finals run, the Celtics adding near all-stars Kristaps Porzingis and Jrue Holiday, and the Chicago Bulls … resigned a few people. As anticlimactic as that sounds, this is all a piece to a bigger puzzle to get them back to a championchip level team they had .
Whether it’s trade rumors around Lavine, Derozan, and Vucevic or the front office waiting for Lonzo Ball to recover from his injury, one thing is for certain, something needs to change. Thankfully, the front office has made decent moves for this past offseason to be ready for those blockbuster trades or when Lonzo comes back.
Back on August 8th, 2021, the Bulls traded for the former Pelican’s guard. Ball was the missing piece the Bull’s front office was looking for, hoping to make the team a contender for years to come. That stint lasted almost a month before Ball suffered a lingering meniscus tear in his knee that ended the first seeded run. Due to the injury, Ball unfortunately had to miss the entirety of the 2022-23 season and we are still waiting for a recovery.
Recently, Ball made a claim on his injury saying that, because he is young, there is still plenty of time for him to heal and get on the court and that he feels strongly about how likely that will happen in the upcoming years.
While waiting for Ball’s return, the Bulls had a 40-42 record last year, finishing 10th in the eastern conference. To maximize the success of this upcoming season, whilst waiting for Ball, they made important offseason moves to ensure their advancement in the 23-24 season.
According to ESPN, one of these offseason moves include extending Nikola Vucevic to a three year, $60 Million dollar contract locking him in for the next few seasons. Sure, he might be past his prime and doesn’t have much defense left in him but he does fit extremely well with the other stars on the team. In addition, the Bulls also added Jevon Crowder for a three year, $20 million contract. The Bulls front office are still struggling to find who their starting point guard will be whether that is Alex Caruso or Coby White but Jevon Crowder certainly helps this problem of guard depth that the Bulls need fixing. With this guard depth problem, it was crucial to sign Coby White back, they did this on a three year, $33 million contract. The seventh overall pick is still finding his way through the team and that starting position, but re-signing him was still crucial so the Bulls still have their main core for when Ball comes back. Now, the second round pick in the 2021 draft, Ayo Dosunmu, was vital for the bulls last year, sometimes starting as the main point guard. Because of this, the Bulls deeply wanted to re-sign him to a three year, $21 million contract and Dosunmu gladly accepted. Needing to find a way to add more impactful forwards in the roster, they went after Julian Phillips with the 35th pick in the 2023 NBA draft. Along with these, they also made some minor contract signings to help the guard depth problem.
With their offseason moves and the development of the team, especially Lavine, I beleive they will have an exceedingly good record this upcoming season. After the all-star break last season Lavine had a split of 27 points 5 assists and 4 rebounds coming, taking over the lead scoring unit from Derozan’s 24/5/5. Before the all-star break, Lavine recorded a split of 24/5/4 and there’s no sign of him slowing down his 27/5/4 anytime soon.
Whether the Bull’s front office are waiting for Ball to come back or waiting to trade their main core, I believe the Bulls will have a 42-40 record in the 2023-24 season. I put it higher than last year’s record due to the emergence of Zach Lavine along with the development with their young pieces they’ve recently acquired over the past few years. With the Bulls maintaining the core they had with Ball, I think it is safe to say that in either direction the Bulls front office takes, whether that is waiting for Lonzo to return them to their championship contender team or trading their stars for lots of income, the bulls have a bright future ahead of themselves.
