Pippen Ain't Easy
Fansided

Ranking the Tank: How bad will the Chicago Bulls be in the 2017-18 season?

By Bennett Halpin

HOFFMAN ESTATES, IL - MARCH 28: Cameron Payne #1 of the Windy City Bulls dribbles the ball against the Erie BayHawks on March 28, 2017 at the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by John L. Alexander/NBAE via Getty Images)
HOFFMAN ESTATES, IL - MARCH 28: Cameron Payne #1 of the Windy City Bulls dribbles the ball against the Erie BayHawks on March 28, 2017 at the Sears Centre Arena in Hoffman Estates, Illinois. NOTE TO USER: User expressly acknowledges and agrees that, by downloading and or using this photograph, User is consenting to the terms and conditions of the Getty Images License Agreement. Mandatory Copyright Notice: Copyright 2017 NBAE (Photo by John L. Alexander/NBAE via Getty Images) /
facebooktwitterreddit

The offseason dust has settled, so where do the Chicago Bulls fit in the new NBA landscape?

I’ll give you a hint about where the Chicago Bulls fit in the new NBA landscape. It’s not near the top.

The Bulls’ offseason has mostly wrapped up and its been an up-and-down one. Okay, it’s mostly just been down.  With the Jimmy Butler trade triggering a full-scale rebuild, the only thing that looks certain is that this season being a rocky one.

Yes, the Bulls are in a full-scale rebuild, and as it is so often with rebuilding teams, the Bulls will be bad.

But just how bad will the Bulls be?

Really, really, bad. Horrific even.

Bleacher Report‘s latest power rankings have the Bulls slotted in at 29th, ahead of only the Brooklyn Nets.  The roster isn’t fully set yet, but it’s hard to see a possible move the front office could make that would alter the course the Bulls seem locked into. But, this isn’t necessarily a bad thing, unless you wanted to see competitive Bulls basket ball this season.

More from Bulls News

The Bulls front office seems committed to a rebuild, or at least being bad. But with complete control over all their own future first round picks, that’s a step in the right direction. Whether accidentally or intentionally, Gar Forman and John Paxson have created a roster that is going to struggle to compete and that’s putting it kindly.

The best player on the roster is a well-past-his-prime Dwyane Wade. Wade has been the subject of buyout rumors ever since Butler was dealt. The next best player and the centerpiece of the Butler deal, Zach LaVine, plays the same position and likely wont play till January or later.

The point guard situation is dire. The three guys competing for the starting spot have just 42 collective starts between them. There isn’t one real small forward on the roster. Robin Lopez is the best two-way player on the team. I could go on, but you get the picture. This team may actually be worse than it looks on paper.

Things are bad, but not all bad … right?

The only bright spot when looking at this Bulls squad is that it’s a relatively young one. Only Wade and Lopez have more than four years of experience in the NBA. There is room for internal improvement among the Bulls young core and lots of it. Young teams tend to lose a lot. Even when well constructed with highly-touted prospects. This Bulls squad will be no different, despite being poorly constructed with miscast prospects.

This at least puts the Bulls in a solid position to end up with a top-5 pick in the draft for at least the next few seasons. It’s hard to look forward to being so bad you end up at the top of the lottery, but that’s where the Bulls fan base is stuck. It’s easier to look at the teams that will be worse than the Bulls then the ones that will be better mostly because nearly the entire league fits into the latter category.

ESPN’s projected record by real plus-minus for the Bulls has them at 28.5 projected wins. The only teams with worse projected wins are the Atlanta Hawks and the Sacramento Kings. The Bulls are projected to win less games than the Nets!  Let that sink in for a while.

It’s not inconceivable that the Bulls finish with the worst record in the league, which would at least leave them with the best odds for the No. 1 pick. So it’s not all bad!

But, it is mostly bad. Nate Duncan and Danny Leroux gave the Bulls an F in their Eastern Conference offseason grades podcast. I want to disagree with them. I want to disagree with everyone who says the offseason has been one long train wreck for the Bulls. But I can’t.

The only thing the Bulls deserve above an F for this offseason is how successfully they’ve put themselves in a position to land the No. 1 pick in 2018. That’s like getting an A for your ability to fail.

Bad, bad and more bad

From the botched Jimmy Butler trade, to the selling of the 38th pick for cash, this offseason has been a comedy of errors for the Bulls, only no one’s laughing (except maybe for Tom Thibodeau).

There are a lot of intriguing young teams in the NBA. The Bulls are now one of those teams, but for all the wrong reasons.

Next: Bulls unveil new Nike jerseys for 2017-18 season

At least we fans have the draft lottery to look forward too. Bring on the tank!

Home/Bulls News