The Chicago Bulls’ offseason featured chaos, confusion and commotion. To recap the summer months for the Bulls, some of us here at Pippen Ain’t Easy sat down and talked about what happened.
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While Bulls owner Jerry Reinsdorf was either sipping mimosas on a private island or watching the Chicago White Sox become the best team in baseball (for, like 30 games) back in April, his end-of-the-year press conference statement mentioned that the Bulls would be “strategic and aggressive” in shaping the Chicago Bulls‘ roster next season.
So, what did the Bulls do?
The Bulls not only traded Cameron Bairstow to the Detroit Pistons for Spencer Dinwiddie (who was just recently signed after being waived), the Bulls did the unthinkable and traded Derrick Rose and Justin Holiday to the New York Knicks for Jerian Grant, Robin Lopez and Jose Calderon (who was sent to the Los Angeles Lakers in a salary cap-clearing deal).
Joakim Noah followed Rose to the Knicks after not re-signing with the Bulls, while Pau Gasol took to the opening in San Antonio left by the retiring Tim Duncan with the Spurs. Mike Dunleavy was traded to the Cleveland Cavaliers after keeping him away from LeBron James last season. Aaron Brooks and E’Twaun Moore signed with new teams (Indiana and New Orleans respectively).
A makeover of the Bulls roster continued with their two draft picks (and loads of rumors on draft night) and … Isaiah Canaan.
The Bulls drafted Denzel Valentine with the 14th overall pick out of Michigan State, the Bulls drafted Germany’s Paul Zipser with the 48th pick later on draft night. Zipser will play with the German National Team in the Rio Olympics, while Valentine hit a game-winner to seal the Bulls’ summer league title in Las Vegas.
Oh, right.
They also signed Rajon Rondo and Dwyane Wade.
Seriously.
Did you catch all that? No? Don’t worry. Some of the crew here at PAE took to trying to grasp the Bulls’ summer and what’s ahead for the new-look Bulls.
Here’s our first roundtable discussion at PAE on the Bulls’ summer with Daniel Coughlin, Ben Rains, Matthew Price, newcomer Steve Coyle and moderator Michael Whitlow.
Next: What did you think of the Bulls' summer?