NEWSLETTER
The Chicago Bulls have found a way to win around the margins this offseason.
Putting aside the fact that doubling down on a core of Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Nikola Vucevic is … well … questionable, the Bulls front office has put together quite a solid free agency. They started things off by adding 3-and-D guard Jevon Carter to a three-year deal worth just an average of $6.5 million per year. As someone who appeared in 80 games for the Milwaukee Bucks last season and shot 42.1 percent from downtown, landing him for about half of the mid-level exception felt like great value.
The next small victory for Chicago came via signing restricted free-agent Coby White to a three-year, $36 million deal. I don’t think I was alone in believing that the combo guard would end up signing a contract worth over the full non-taxpayer mid-level exception (roughly $12.5 million). Not only is White still just 23 years old, but he was fresh off easily the most well-rounded season of his career. He showed stark improvements as a ball-handler, decision-making, and defender.
But the savvy negotiating didn’t stop there! With the Bulls in desperate need of more shooting and size at the wing, the team signed veteran forward Torrey Craig. My initial expectations were that Craig would have inked a deal using close to the remainder of the Bulls’ mid-level exception or bi-annual exception ($4.5 million). Instead, rumors surfaced that Craig signed for the veteran minimum, and Spotrac’s Keith Smith has now confirmed this is the case.
Craig will make just $2.5 million this season and has a $2.8 million player option for the 2024-25 campaign.
Am I wrong for thinking that feels like a freakin’ steal? Craig is fresh off hitting career-highs in games played (79), 3-point percentage (39.5), and rebounds per game (5.4). The veteran wing is a plus defender and has 75 games of playoff experience under his belt since the 2018-19 season. Sure, Craig may be nothing more than a role player, but he’s proven to be an extremely useful one who can help take some of the toughest assignments on defense and fill in where he’s needed on offense.
The guy was making $5.0 million over the past two seasons, so the fact that he played some of the best basketball of his career and ended up inking a deal for significantly less than that is pretty darn shocking. It’s also downright baffling that he chose the Chicago Bulls. I just refuse to believe contending teams weren’t interested in his services, particularly on the minimum. So what did the Bulls tell him to pry him away? Did they promise a starting spot? Did they promise more than 25 minutes per game?
Whatever it was, I’m sure happy they did it. While I remain rather frustrated in this organization’s long-term future, looking through things in a vacuum, this simply feels like a great addition to the roster. Craig is an ideal fit around three offensive-minded All-Star who desperately need floor spacing and help crashing the boards. As far as filling holes and cleaning up mistakes go, I’m not at all going to be surprised if Torrey Craig proves to be the most impactful minimum signing of free agency.
Lastly, these free-agent deals give me at least some newfound hope in the front office’s negotiating skills. I came into this summer extremely skeptical of their ability to win around the margins. And, again, while I think their general sense of direction is misguided, this does re-instill at least some optimism in their roster-building moving forward.
Keyword … *some.*
