1) Chicago Bulls 2020 offseason mistakes
Letting go of Kris Dunn and signing Garrett Temple
Just like most takes that will come about from Karnisovas’ offseason moves in his first year as the lead voice in the Bulls front office, the jury shouldn’t be out on them until at least a year or two into his tenure. Karnisovas built up a solid contender in the Western Conference during his time as the Denver Nuggets general manager, and could do something similar with the Bulls now.
That doesn’t mean that critics will be easy on partly confusing moves like Karnisovas letting go of restricted free agent guards like Shaquille Harrison and Kris Dunn in favor of the former Brooklyn Nets veteran 34-year-old shooting guard Garrett Temple. Largely brought in to bring another veteran voice to the locker room and replace the perimeter defensive presence of both Dunn and Harrison, Temple will hold a key role for the Bulls this season.
The price that that the Utah Jazz paid to get Harrison, and that the Hawks paid for Dunn, combined was around the same per year as the Bulls got Temple for. They signed Temple to a one-year contract worth $5 million. And the Jazz got Harrison for a one-year minimum deal. The Hawks got Dunn for a steal for two years, on a contract worth around $10 million.
Temple mostly makes his presence known on the defensive end of the floor. He is a decent secondary ball handler and outside shooter at times in a second or third unit coming off the bench. But it’s hard to imagine that he will be more efficient for the Bulls on that end of the floor this season than both Harrison for the Jazz and Dunn for the Hawks.