The Bulls Have Picked the Slow Lane
What are the Chicago Bulls doing? No one really knows. They zig when you expect them to zag. They sign 30-year-old players when they want to get “younger and more athletic”. It’s all weird.
For weeks, the Chicago Bulls have had no sense of direction.
When they make a good business decision and trade away Derrick Rose and let a worn-down Joakim Noah walk back home to Manhattan to join the New York Knicks, they bring in another point guard that can’t hit water if he fell out of a boat in Rajon Rondo.
Furthermore, Wednesday brought the Jerry Reinsdorfiest move of the bunch. Six years after three-time NBA champion Dwyane Wade shunned the Bulls in free agency after two meetings, the 12-time All-Star signed a two-year, $47.5 million deal with the Bulls to return back home to Chicago.
After the Wade commitment, the Bulls then sent Mike Dunleavy to arch nemesis and Dunleavy fan LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers and Jose Calderon to the Los Angeles Lakers.
Just like with the Chicago White Sox in recent memory, a Reinsdorf-owned franchise gets a superstar who is completely past their prime years and will provide little support in a brief period of time to help keep a mediocre team afloat.
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The Bulls have needed to pick a lane worse than most drivers on the Dan Ryan Expressway and it appears they’ve found that lane. The slowest lane possible.
Sure, there’s countless debates to be had over where the Bulls are going. I guess it really doesn’t matter how you get there if you get there, eh?
Bulls general manager Gar Forman and VP of basketball operations John Paxson have harped on the Bulls making “aggressive changes” (per Reinsdorf’s end-of-season statement) and getting “younger and more athletic”.
So, you pick up a 30-year-old point guard that’s a locker room cancer and has admitted he doesn’t play defense, a 34-year-old point guard that’s a 28.4 percent three-point shooter in his career and one of the oldest draft prospects in the 2016 class? Who are you trying to fool, GarPaxDorf?
It’s the slowest lane possible. Literally.
A projected starting five with three prominent names in the NBA — Rondo, Wade and Butler — that all can’t shoot from long range, a four-man that might not even be with the Bulls all season in Taj Gibson and a solid big in Robin Lopez.
How is a second-year head coach in Fred Hoiberg expected to pick up his team’s pace with two 30-year-old guards and a 26-year-old star that can’t shoot consistently from beyond 18 feet? You’re handicapping your hand-picked coach with the wrong personnel.
The Bulls have this strange obsession with being good — not great — but good. They’ve won more games than anyone in the Eastern Conference in the last decade, the numbers and Forman tell us. They’ve also been without an NBA Finals appearance since before Y2K.
The Bulls have finally picked their direction. It’s just going to take them a little while to get where they think they can go.
Bringing in Wade helps. He’s a future Hall of Famer that will have the Bulls in line for some top-tier free agents next summer. The 2017 free agent class — like the draft class — will be packed with some superstars that could potentially look for a new home. Wade’s connections to LeBron James, Chris Paul and Carmelo Anthony could certainly make the Bulls a destination for “The Brotherhood” to unite as one.
But, here’s the thing: what would be left of the Bulls if that’s even on the board of possibilities? You’d have four of the greatest players of this generation on the same team. Even with a rising salary cap to fit them all, Paxson may have to play as a backup point guard with the leftover cash.
On top of that, if this pipe dream of a scenario came to fruition, you wouldn’t seriously pick them over the Death Star that is the Golden State Warriors with two former MVPs in the same lineup, would you?
The answer: [expletive] no.
Realistically, the only trade piece the Bulls have is Butler and that ship has sailed off (for now). Doug McDermott and Nikola Mirotic are young offensive talents, but porous defenders. Bobby Portis has potential, but had a poor rookie season. Denzel Valentine is a rookie with rumored knee issues, while Jerian Grant is unproven still in his second NBA season.
The Bulls wanted to get younger and athletic. They got slower and less athletic with two old former superstars and a 22-year-old college star that may not be completely healthy. (It’s like the Rondo contract details. Nobody really knows with Denzel Valentine’s health.)
Their process of flipping over the roster will probably get them back to the playoffs. It’s the Eastern Conference, so they have a shot. That’s also always a part of the usually unsuccessful pitches the Bulls make in free agency, so there’s no surprise that the Bulls have made these moves. It’s the Bulls. Expect anything, everything and nothing at the same time.
The Bulls have finally picked their direction. It’s just going to take them a little while to get where they think they can go.