1. Speaking of coming to camp, will Nikola Mirotic and the Bulls come to an agreement before then?
The biggest of the big questions surrounding the Bulls with just about a month before training camp is … what’s the plan for Nikola Mirotic heading into next year?
It was expected that the Bulls and Mirotic would come to some sort of agreement after the free agency period opened on July 1, but no deal ever came about and then it went silent on the negotiation front. Not even rumors of a potential offer. Nothing.
Everyone has been left to wonder what’s going with Mirotic. He declined the invitation to play for Spain in the upcoming EuroBasket tournament to focus on training in Chicago at the Bulls facilities, yet there’s been no word as to whether or not Mirotic is returning.
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What helps bring the question to the forefront of discussions is that the Bulls drafted Arizona power forward Lauri Markkanen with the pick they acquired in the Butler deal. Markkanen can play a similar style than Mirotic can as a inside-and-out stretch-four that can probably even play some minutes at center in smaller lineups.
Why draft Markkanen — who you didn’t even bring in for a workout or hardly spoke to prior to the draft — if you had Mirotic already in place with Bobby Portis behind him?