NEWSLETTER
Zach LaVine and Coby White.
Those are the only two players who began their Chicago Bulls tenure under the Gar Forman and John Paxson regime that will remain under contract next season. The summer of 2020 brought a mass exodus of the franchise’s front office. The spring and summer of 2021 brought a similar fate to the roster.
The Nikola Vucevic trade was the first domino to fall. The Bulls sent two first-round picks along with Wendell Carter Jr. and Otto Porter to Orlando for the All-Star’s services (okay, and technically Al-Farouq Aminu). It was a move no one expected, and a move that blew up the Chicago Bulls as we came to know them over the previous three seasons. With two All-Stars now on the roster, the pressure was on to win soon in the Windy City.
Fast forward 130 days, and this time it was the move everyone expected. The Chicago Bulls’ sign-and-trade deal that sent Tomas Satoransky, Garrett Temple, and a second-round pick for Lonzo Ball broke at 5:00 p.m., right when free agency opened. Not a second later. A 23-year-old pass-first point guard with elite positional size and a revamped 3-point stroke fit exactly what the Bulls needed, which is why the two parties were heavily connected ever since long before March 25th.
Then, we returned to the unexpected. The Alex Caruso signing felt like getting slapped in the face with a wet fish, at least in terms of the surprise. Caruso was rarely – if ever – connected to the organization in pre-free agency rumors, and it surely felt like he flew under the radar in much of the league-wide conversation. But that does not mean the move did not make sense. A four-year, $37 million contract could prove more than worth it for one of the peskiest on-ball defenders in the league. Coupled with Lonzo Ball, Caruso immediately turns one of the worst defensive backcourt rotations in the NBA into a “you-gotta-respect-them” squad.
If Caruso felt like getting slapped with a wet fish, what came next felt like getting blindsided by a bull, if I could go with the obvious line. DeMar DeRozan will be paid $85 million over the next three years to wear red. To pull off the sign-and-trade, Chicago sent the San Antonio Spurs Thaddeus Young, a protected first-round pick, and two second-round picks. A lot? Yes, but more on that in a second.
In hindsight, Karnisovas’ words after the trade deadline spoke as loud as his actions.
“Obviously, we want Chicago to be an attractive destination for free agents. For us, we evaluated at a sample size of more than 40 games, and we made a couple of decisions to select certain guys, to add a couple of guys, to this team that can help win games because we are serious here about winning. We’re serious about the culture of being very competitive, and any opportunity we get to make this team better we will.”
No shit (sorry, grandma).
Karnisovas put winning on a pedestal when he arrived in Chicago. General Manager Marc Eversley did the same thing. Eversley was the one who said he wanted to restore relevancy to the franchise. Uh, check. He was also the one who said the front office’s plan would be a “retooling,” not a rebuild. Uh, major check!
The top-two front office masterminds quickly made a quiet major market organization loud again. They clanked pots and pans with the hiring of Billy Donovan and they screamed through a rolled-up newspaper into your ear during the first 48 hours of free agency. I know, the loudest one in the room is not always the strongest. Further moves still have to be made. Chemistry still has to be built. Games still have to be won. But if the goal was to win basketball games, the Chicago Bulls have shoved themselves into a position to do that.
And that brings me back to the DeRozan situation. I’ll be honest, I did not jump out of my seat when the DeRozan news landed in front of me. In fact, I may have sunk deeper into my chair when the full details came out. What the Bulls gave up is no small potato. The thought of sending out another first-round pick after already sending two to Orlando is enough to make me take a Tums. Add in the fact that they did that simply for the right to pay a 31-year-old who struggles to hit 3’s and lacks plus-defense $28.3 million a year is enough to make me take two Tums.
At the same time, as my stomach settles, I ask myself … why the hell not?
The front office picked an aggressive lane, which is more than the previous regime can say for itself. Karnisovas and Eversley decided to spend like a big-market franchise and make the most of their young All-Star’s prime. Those are two things we have not seen in Chicago for a long time.
Also, look what came from this aggressive lane. A Ball-Caruso-DeRozan free agency is undoubtedly the best free agency in franchise history. At no other time did two players like Ball and DeRozan choose Chicago over other cities, and that feels like an even more massive step in the right direction than the signings themselves.
But can this team compete with the Nets, Bucks, and 76ers? Can they even make it out of the first or second round? I don’t know. All I know is that – on paper – the Bulls are in a significantly better position to win basketball games. And, again, isn’t that what this whole thing is about? Yes, I’m concerned about things bottoming out and future flexibility being potentially non-existent. I’m also ready to have some damn fun for the first time in a long time.
Simply put: You have to be in the game to win the game. The Bulls are finally in the game.
