NEWSLETTER
Tonight, when that orange Wilson rubber presses itself against the polished hardwood, I might shed a singular tear.
While the return to action for the NBA and Chicago Bulls skyrockets my workload, I can’t tell you how much better it is than the alternative. Remove the month of free agency from the equation, and the offseason for a basketball content creator can quickly turn into a turtle race.
Only so many times can I use stats from the previous season to establish a point, especially when 80 percent of the roster changes. Only so many times can I throw a tantrum over underwhelming power rankings. Only so many times can I talk about the fit of Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan. Only so many times can I hype up Alex Caruso’s defensive contributions. At some point, we just need the games to be played.
Year after year, we watched a rebuild that was as much disastrous as it was soul-crushing. But it was that beautiful blend that guided us to the situation we find ourselves in today. While I’m not ready to say this roster will make the past handful of painful and dysfunctional years “worth it,” who is to say I will not eventually reach that point? After all, the team that trots out onto the Little Caesar’s Arena court later tonight will be the most talented Bulls squad we’ve seen since the Derrick Rose era.
But what about the money!?
How about all that draft capital you lost!?
You have no star player!
What’s the long-term plan!?
Don’t get me wrong, I understand the skepticism, but I’d be lying if I said I cared all that much right now. My feet are kicked up while I lay on the beach with a piña colada in one hand and an Italian Beef in the other (like, metaphorically … I’m actually in my apartment in Milwaukee). Hoarding draft capital and refusing to spend big dollars is what dug this organization into a deeper and deeper hole over the last decade. And the lack of talent made it tougher to add the right players even when they wanted to. But Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley have treated this franchise like the big market powerhouse it should be, and I’m not going to complain about the pursuit of consistently competitive basketball in Chicago.
Anyway, I’ll leave it at that. I don’t know how this season will unfold nor how successful this team will truly be. All I know is the Chicago Bulls play the Detroit Pistons at 6:00 p.m. CT tonight, and I couldn’t be more ready.
If you want some more pre-game reading:
When Alex Caruso Talks About Defense, His Teammates Listenhttps://t.co/dQLxfcsueW
— Bleacher Nation Bulls (@BN_Bulls) October 16, 2021
What Has the Preseason Taught Us? That Zach LaVine Finally Has the Help He Needshttps://t.co/JnBpw2ymJm
— Bleacher Nation Bulls (@BN_Bulls) October 14, 2021
Actually, Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan Can Fit Together Just Fine, Thank You Very Muchhttps://t.co/UvMDbHEiG3 pic.twitter.com/sUkNHYugy5
— Bleacher Nation Bulls (@BN_Bulls) September 15, 2021
