Chicago Bulls: A ‘State of The Team’ address one third into the season

No. 2 Trade Zach LaVine

The injury to Otto Porter has set back any chance of a rebuild by at least one season. Otto was supposed to be the missing piece at small forward to round out a starting five of Carter, Markkanen, LaVine and whoever they would acquire to fix the point guard position (eventually that became Satoransky). 2019-20 would be the year the Bulls re-establish credibility with the league and become an attractive alternative destination to top 20 players.

Instead, Otto got injured and the small forward position has been a carousel with Chandler Hutchison (also hurt now), Shaq Harrison and most recently Kris Dunn plugged into a small ball starting lineup. Lacking size, that lineup has had great difficulty defending bigs.

The Bulls have also not fixed the point guard position. They drafted Coby White who seems much more comfortable in a shooting guard role. Satoransky has not looked any better than he did on the Wizards where he played a backup role.

That said, both starting small forward and starting point guard have not been stabilized as hoped. That instability has greatly affected the ability to judge whether Otto was in fact the missing piece. Either way though, the Bulls are stuck with Otto’s bad contract which will most likely cost the team $28.5 million next season.

Projecting next years starters to be what they originally envisioned, with Satoransky signed to play point guard, the Bulls would have $67.3 million tied up in starters next year. Young, Valentine, Dunn, White and Gafford would price out the second unit at least at $32.5 million, assuming both Dunn and Valentine sign their qualifying offers.

If the hope was that two all-stars may develop from the starters, that is not happening this year. There also is not very much financial flexibility with everyone on board to sign free agents that may better fit this roster than the way it is currently constructed.

Any moves before the trade deadline will have to be with the goal of next year becoming the year the Bulls re-establish credibility around the league. The only player whose value could be maximized to reach that goal is Zach LaVine. Here is why:

1. Significant cap space cannot be cleared by trading any other player. No team is trading for Otto Porter with his current contract.
2. Coby White has already been used as a shooting guard on the second unit while Dunn and Arcidiacono have played the point. Instead of being the Bulls point guard of the future, he can be given a chance to become the shooting guard of the future.
3. Valentine if his stellar play continues and he is resigned, can also start at shooting guard. He actually is better at getting the other players on the floor involved than Zach is.
4. Zach can bring the biggest return. Teams in contention that are in need of a second or third scoring option will be very interested in a player with Zach’s athletic ability and team friendly contract through 2021-22.
5. Other players can be packaged with him such as bench warmer Cristiano Felicio whose $7.5 million contract a team may take on or Luke Kornet who has already proven to be a bust on defense.

It would be hard to imagine the Bulls next year without LaVine, the one player who has any shot at becoming an all-star this year, let alone the two players, Dunn and Valentine, who have impressed beyond expectations and won over the hearts of Bulls fans. But the short-term pain can lead to a better long-term outlook.