Chicago Bulls: How will the void be filled with Robin Lopez’s departure?

The Chicago Bulls decided not to resign Robin Lopez, or any other traditional center in free agency. What does this mean for the existing roster and how Jim Boylen wants to play?

When free agency started, a lot of Chicago Bulls fans understood the Bulls would be looking to replace center Robin Lopez. The Bulls, however, did not sign a center to take his spot. Instead they added Luke Kornet, who is officially listed as a 7-foot-1 power forward, Thaddeus Young a 6-foot-8 power forward and Tomas Satoransky a 6-foot-7 swingman. Lopez, in the meantime, signed with the Milwaukee Bucks for two years at about $5 million a year, where he is teaming up with his twin brother Brook.

Another thing Chicago fan’s hope to see is as little as possible of Cristiano Felicio. During the 2018-19 season, the 6-foot-10 center from Brazil averaged 4.0 points and 3.6 rebounds, both less than in each of his previous two seasons. Felicio is not progressing and a best-case scenario would be to somehow dump his contract, in excess of $15 million over the next two years.

To understand what this all means, let’s consider what Lopez brought to the table and whether the Bulls can replace that without having to rely on Felicio.

Last season, Lopez did not put up numbers that would seem hard to duplicate. His game averages of 9.5 points and 3.9 rebounds in 21.7 minutes of action are not very impressive, considering he even started 36 games in Wendell Carter Jr.’s absence due to injury.

On the other hand, Lopez had a 56.8% field goal percentage, ranking him 13th in the league, played in 74 games, second on the Bulls only to Ryan Arcidiacono, and was fourth on the team in total minutes. In other words, he is an experienced durable player who plays within his limits and takes high percentage shots when the opportunity presents itself.

For now, the player expected to open the season at center is Carter Jr. Let’s not forget that Wendell is still 20 years old and has only 44 games of experience under his belt. His defensive potential is without question, as evidenced by him having at least three blocks in seven of those 44 games.

He also had some quite impressive offensive showings, such as the 28 points he put up against Detroit back in November in only 29 minutes of action. Still, his outside shooting clearly needs improvement (37.7 percent from 10-16 feet) and he has displayed a tendency to get into early foul trouble.

Considering his backups are Felicio and rookie Daniel Gafford, we must see significant progress in all areas of Carter Jr.’s game and Gafford will have to quickly provide the same quality rim protection and offensive rebounding he displayed in Summer League. The alternative is the Chicago Bulls plan on playing a completely new brand of basketball.

BINGO!!!! Welcome folks to the new small ball and versatile Chicago Bulls.

The Chicago Bulls would be insane to rely on Gafford, a 2nd round draft pick, to replace the old school and dependable Robin Lopez. They would be even crazier to allow Cristiano Felicio to come off the bench backing up Carter Jr.

They are not crazy though for wanting to play small ball with interchangeable pieces, which will allow them to better match up against most of the league trending in that direction. They went into free agency with that intention, to change the culture with hard-nosed players and interchangeable pieces.

Besides Andre Drummond on the Pistons, who had 24 points and 20 rebounds when Carter Jr. scored those 28 points, the only other big in the East that may still be too much for young Carter Jr. is the Sixers center Joel Embiid. The key against Embiid though will be going out and challenging his shot since he tends to spend a lot of time away from the basket. Over 30 percent of his shots are beyond 16 feet.

In a wide-open Eastern Conference, expect the Chicago Bulls to play many lineups where Lauri Markkanen and even Thaddeus Young, in the Draymond Green mode, swing back and forth between the power forward and center positions when Carter Jr. is on the bench.

Still, there is great risk with this roster. If Wendell Carter Jr. does not stay healthy or show significant improvement, the Bulls may have to frequently play Markkanen at the five which is not where they ideally want him. They will also be forced to perhaps play more small ball than anticipated, thus losing the flexibility they hope for. Otherwise this could be another dreaded season of Felicio and watching the NBA Draft Lottery.

Ugh.

Maybe it is time to be wise and give a call to a former fan favorite, a player that took pride in the letters across his Bulls uniform, a player who can mentor both Carter Jr. and Gafford. His name is Joakim Noah.