Chicago Bulls: 5 Players They Can Buy Low On This Summer

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With the craziness and wackiness of the 2016 free agency period likely over, let’s take a look at five free agents that are overlooked by many, but could bring good value.

I can hardly believe it myself.

The Chicago Bulls have signed the pride of Robbins, Illinois, the Flash himself, Dwyane Wade. I can’t really believe it.

Though he’s a bit long in the tooth, Wade is still a legit All-Star that’s coming off his healthiest season in five years. He’s an efficient slasher, a great leader who steps up when the games start to matter. Wade had a terrific playoff run with the Miami Heat last season, taking Miami to seven games against a deeper Toronto team.

The big question is for Wade and the Bulls in Fred Hoiberg‘s new system: can he shoot threes?

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Well, he shot 15.9 percent on 0.6 long-range attempts per contest during the regular season — and 52.2%, on 1.6 attempts a night during the playoffs. He clogs up the Bulls’ perimeter shooting and he isn’t exactly Speedy Gonzalez when it comes to pushing the pace.

I still really like the signing and think Wade brings some great leadership intangibles that could elevate the Bulls’ mediocre young pups, similar to the way he brought the best out of Tyler Johnson and Josh Richardson last season.

The signing I’m not very bullish on (sorry, had to) is Rajon Rondo. I’m not the only PAE scribe who feels this way. He’s burned multiple coaches in his wake, he can’t shoot a lick outside 18 feet unless he’s left wide, wide open. He’s slow and he was a worse defender than Jose Calderon in real defensive plus-minus last season. Rondo ranked 30th overall among 83 eligible point guards, Calderon was 26th. The former NBA All-Defensive Team cornerstone has plummeted to straight-up sieve status.

Signing Rondo and Wade suggests GarPax may not have watched a game since the 2012 Eastern Conference Finals when both players were All Stars and key cogs on title contenders. Wade at least is still pretty darn good.

It would have done the Bulls a world of good to retain E’Twaun Moore or sign a Jeremy Lin instead — a young-ish off-guard type who has room to develop, can push the pace, has an outside shooting stroke opponents respect, comes cheaper than Rondo did in a gratuitous overpay and doesn’t piss off every other player in the NBA.

You’ll be happy (or wary) to know that the Bulls may not be quite done making moves this summer. Now in a perfect world, they’d flip some of the young scrubs’ contracts for more space so they could go after a Dion Waiters-type; an athletic wing with a lot of upside.

For instance, they could try to move Tony Snell’s worthless $2.4 million contract.

Or, if management is married to the old-guy route, they could run back the J.R. Smith Experience (the Bulls had him for a second in the summer of 2006, but he never suited up). I wish management was willing to move McDermott’s $2.5 million owed into cap space, but the Bulls seem to (foolishly) like him too much. Nikola Mirotic still has the highest ceiling and as the only stretch-four option on the current roster, he’s worth holding onto for now (more on this in a second).

Regardless of whether or not there are more trades coming out of the Windy City this summer, it’s very likely that the Bulls will take a micro-deal flyer on some cheap young free agent talent. The Bulls have a $2.89 million trade exception left over from the Kirk Hinrich deadline deal and despite the free agent cupboard getting a bit bare, there are still a few options who may be able to help the Chi’s spacing and/or pacing.

Let’s investigate.

Next: 5. Donald Sloan

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5 Free Agents the Chicago Bulls Can Buy Low On This Summer

By Alex Kirschenbaum | Jul 10, 2016

With the craziness and wackiness of the 2016 free agency period likely over, let’s take a look at five free agents that are overlooked by many, but could bring good value.