Chicago Bulls way too early free agent talk: Blake Griffin

It’s the very beginning of May. We’ve got two months until NBA free agency and the playoffs still have a long way to go. Naturally, it’s time to dig into same of the marquee names that locked up some early vacation time and determine if the Chicago Bulls can, and should, make a move. The Los Angeles Clippers might see a mass exodus, can Chicago convince Blake Griffin to switch teams?

The Bulls entered the 2016-17 season with a problem – too many power forwards. They will enter the summer of 2017 with a different problem – not enough consistency or talent at power forward.

Nikola Mirotic may be back next season, or no. He’s going to have offers and both he and Chicago will have decisions to make about his future. He’s likely to see some offers in the three or four year range and with the rising salary cap, it would be shocking if he garners offers in the $15 million per year bracket. Of course, he might not see anything nearly that lucrative. Either way, there’s reasonable trepidation over Mirotic’s future.

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And then there’s Bobby Portis. I like ol’ Crazy Eyes, but I’m not sure that he’s a year away, two years away, or even three years away from hitting his potential at this point. He just seems to be a player that has a few moments, but only on one end of the floor.

Either way, there’s definitely the potential for Chicago to say that they don’t think that Portis has starting potential anytime soon and that Niko’s track record isn’t worth the gamble on a long-term, high-dollar deal.

Enter Blake Griffin.

He’s going to have options this summer. The only real reason to leave Los Angeles is that the team hasn’t demonstrated the ability to overcome even the first round of the playoffs, much less contend. And if Griffin and Chris Paul were to both stay with the Clippers, they are just asking to run it back another year, win a lot of games and still end up tangling with the Golden State Warriors, San Antonio Spurs, Houston Rockets and Utah Jazz. Each of those teams is a long way from the end of their current arcs of success.

If LA fatigue is setting in on Blake, there are a number of places he could go, but Chicago is one of the most unique situations available. He could play alongside Jimmy Butler and Dwyane Wade with an anchor in both Robin Lopez or Cristiano Felicio. The team would still lack the key ingredient that the Clippers have had throughout Griffin’s career – a top-five point guard.

Of course, I also wrote about the possibility of Chris Paul joining the Bulls.

It seems a bit outlandish to think that Chicago could be a true destination for any top free agent, but it would make sense that Gar Forman or one of the Paxsons would want to go after him. Power forward is a major area of uncertainty, the team is going to have a good chunk of money to throw at some free agents this summer, and the front office has made it clear that rebuilding the team is asinine and they want to throw money at free agents.

Griffin would be a great fit in this team. As it is currently constructed, he wouldn’t have too many players to share the ball with. Butler is always going to be the first option and it isn’t clear if Fred Hoiberg is going to try to stand up to Wade next year, moving him to the bench where he belongs. Their current point guard options are dire, and aside from his customary first possession field goal attempt out of the post nearly every game, Lopez will be content to crash the boards and get putbacks.

Griffin will have other, better options this summer. He’s going to have his pick of any number of teams. Plus, he’s much too young and athletic for Forman to find him appealing.