While I had my fun on social media and felt the tiniest bit of nervousness at 6:59 p.m. CT, my brain knew what was coming. The Chicago Bulls had a 91.5 percent chance to watch their pick end up in the lap of the Orlando Magic. And that’s exactly what happened.
No drama. No real suspense. All things considered, this felt fitting for how things have gone recently for this team.
So … what now? The Bulls will move forward without a single pick in the 2023 NBA Draft and a roster full of problems. They’ll also move toward a free agency period with very little spending power, particularly if they want to say underneath the luxury tax line (which we all know they do). I guess they have some interesting assets to trade, but the front office has appeared far too stubborn to go that route.
With all of that being the case, it feels like “run it back” is written on the whiteboard in Arturas Karnisovas’ office. I sure hope I’m wrong, but it feels like re-signing Vucevic and potentially even extending DeRozan could be on the horizon. Fresh deals for Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu are also more than likely in the cards. I still think the Bulls add a shooter or something, but it’s hard to think right now that addition would be a needle-mover.
The good news is that we have an entire offseason ahead, and no league is more unpredictable than this one. Not to mention, as quiet as they have been over the past two seasons, we at least have some sort of precedence set that shows Karnisovas and Co. aren’t above making some rather drastic roster changes. But, yeah, I’d be lying if I said my optimism in regards to the roster shake-up this team needs is high.
How did Karnisovas and Eversley react to the lottery news? Well, WGN caught the moment the front office leaders found out they failed to move up. Take a look:
If we’re being honest, I can’t tell if Eversley got tricked! I feel like his reaction would make sense with both trying to contain excitement AND trying to contain anger. But I have to imagine (or I at least sincerely hope) it was the latter. Unlike many Bulls fans who seemingly got got last night, a front office executive should know to look for the “via Chicago” underneath the Magic’s logo.
Do you know what annoys the heck out of me? The fact that we’ll probably not hear from this front office until after free agency. Unless they make a draft night trade and select a prospect, they’ll most likely be able to dodge any media availability around that event. I’m going to cross my fingers that this isn’t the case and Karnisovas does at least have some sort of offseason press conference or radio appearance, but I’m surely not holding my breath.
Hey, at least the Detroit Pistons didn’t end up with Wemby and fell to No. 5! The last thing the Bulls need in the central division is another terrifying big man. Giannis Antetokounmpo is already dominating and Evan Mobley very well could be on his way to superstardom. Adding Wembanyama into the mix would have made the hill for the Bulls to climb appear that much steeper. I’m glad he’s the Western Conference’s problem now!
DeMar DeRozan hopped on Paul George’s Podcast recently, and I shared a clip that was going viral in our bullets from the other day. As I continued listening through the nearly two-hour-long recording, though, I came across another quote that ties into his thoughts on some NBA players not loving the game. Give it a read:
“I always tell young guys who come into the league, we work two to three hours a day. There is no reason why you should ever be late. Why there should be anything else that comes before this. This is what you get paid millions of dollars to do. And you have access to the gym to be able to work on your game, do whatever you got to do. And some guys don’t do it.”
Again, remarks like these are why he’s such a great presence to have inside the locker room. While I’m not sure he makes long-term sense in Chicago, I’m also not going to be kicking myself if the two sides somehow work out a decent extension. As far as trying to shift the culture and build a more stable work environment goes, DeRozan is the type of vet that can help accomplish that.
This part from the podcast was also pretty funny …
Elias Schuster is the Lead Chicago Bulls writer at Bleacher Nation. He started with BN full-time in 2019 immediately after graduating from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign with a degree in Journalism (yes, he started with the Jim Boylen Era). Since joining, Elias has been the driving force behind Bulls and NBA content for both the site and social accounts. You can follow him on Twitter/X @Schuster_Elias.
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