The Bulls made a lot of changes in July, some were well received and others are still being decried for what all the different changes mean for the present and the future of the franchise, finally severing the ties to the Rose-led past.
We’ve already touched on point guard, shooting guard, and small forward this week. The grades haven’t looked good up to this point. Safe to say that Chicago isn’t going to make the NBA Honor Roll for this off-season.
The Chicago Bulls off-season has been extremely busy, except at power forward where they were quiet in a big way.
Power Forward Grade: A-
Next: Bulls Off-Season Grades: Small Forward
There is always that one friend that anyone who has been in high school or college has: the friend who can’t get anything in their personal or academic life together, but they just crush one particular field of study and they go on to make a career in that focus. Enter the Bulls off-season.
Chicago has always been fairly poor about attracting free agents, Dwyane Wade might be their biggest addition since Carlos Boozer since Ben Wallace since… what were we talking about again? Oh, yeah. The Bulls have struggled on the free agent market ever since Michael Jordan left town. They are particularly great at not doing anything. They tried that last season and it was an utter disaster. This year, while they did a lot of moving around at other positions, they held their hand at the four and it was the perfect choice to make.
If you were to consult any depth chart, whether RealGM or Basketball Reference or another site, last year and this year are going to look the same. Last season it was Taj Gibson, Nikola Mirotic and Bobby Portis. This season it is Gibson, Mirotic and Portis.
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You might be thinking to yourself, “I don’t remember it really shaking out that way.” You would be correct. The Bulls also had Joakim Noah and Pau Gasol on the roster, a condition that forced them to play both of those players, when available, in lineups that suited those players, but maybe the rest of the team not so much.
So, the Bulls just have the same three guys as last season, how is that an “A” grade? Because they shed two players that are combining to earn a whole lot more than even Wade will earn this season. Gasol is in the greener pastures of San Antonio while Noah has moved to the east coast to join a team placed right in the heart of a city that has a terrifyingly outdated infrastructure and two basketball teams who combine to win fewer games than the Spurs.
With Gasol and Noah out of the picture, the three incumbents will be likely to see more of the court at their preferred position. Imagine Mirotic playing 20+ minutes at power forward every single night or Portis taking his spot if his shooting in training camp holds true to his Summer League performance. Picture an enraged Gibson, finally free of his shackles as a career backup sitting on a throne of empty promises and what could have been. Safe to say that there is probably nothing that would make Gibson want to re-sign after spending a good portion of his career nailed to the Bulls bench, but contract year Taj is going to bring way more to the floor than did the empty stats of Pau.
The Bulls didn’t bring in anyone new at power forward, but they have three great athletes who already play that position and deserve to get some serious minutes there. Since the Gasol-Noah duo is gone, that is going to shake free a lot of minutes at the four and these three should love it. The money Chicago saved was instrumental in bringing in Wade and even if Gibson and Mirotic are gone next year, the Bulls could always try to chase Blake Griffin if they have the cap room.