NEWSLETTER
Welp, I guess there’s no denying it: The Bulls want a big man.
With the absence of veteran Robin Lopez on the court and in the locker room, the front office clearly believes they have big shoes to fill.
The team has been linked to a number of bigs lately, the most recent of which was Enes Kanter who we wrote about earlier today. Adding depth at this position makes sense, after all the team is currently looking at a 19-year-old starter and a 20-year-old backup. Originally, it was thought that point guard would still be the teams top priority, but as the Chicago Tribune’s K.C. Johnson has made sure to point out, the Bulls look to be addressing depth at the power forward and center position first.
As reported in this piece yesterday, there are no indications the Bulls are preparing an offer sheet for Malcolm Brogdon or even prepared to go 3 years for Patrick Beverley. In fact, Bulls may address big man depth first and let PG market shake out: https://t.co/wn5i9uj18M
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) June 29, 2019
Just to recap, the following names have been thrown into the discussion as a free agent target recently:
And now, the Golden State Warriors Kevon Looney!
Kevon Looney also plans to speak with the Chicago Bulls tomorrow when free agency begins
— Mark Medina (@MarkG_Medina) June 30, 2019
Looney is only 23-years-old, but he plays like a veteran big after sitting through four postseasons with the Warriors. He had his greatest workload this past season where he appeared in 80 games and started 24. Not necessarily known for his scoring (averaged only 6.3 ppg), Looney is more of an efficient center with a firm defensive backbone. He, typically, makes the right plays and has the potential to come up big when you need him late in games.
After this previous postseason, Looney received praise around the league for his toughness as he played through a shoulder injury. Nothing will necessarily standout about the guy, but he is definitely a mature, confident option to have coming off the bench.
Going after Looney feels like a better, and more realistic potential fit than Randle (for the Bulls, at least). He shouldn’t cost as much, nor would the coaching staff feel pressure to start him. Wendell Carter Jr. is clearly the Bulls future starter at the position and, especially after last season, Randle feels like a sure-fire starter – he averaged 21.4 points and 8.7 rebounds per game (hey, if Randle is fine with coming off the bench, that sounds fantastic, but it’s just a bit hard to see right now).
As the hours tick off the clock and free agency approaches, don’t’ be surprised if we continue to see more names pop up on the Bulls list.
Looks like NBC Chicago Sports’ Mark Schanowski is already thinking that way…
Local guy would make sense for Bulls as a 3 point shooting back-up big. https://t.co/AcjGNFLipD
— Mark Schanowski (@MarkSchanowski) June 29, 2019
