The Chicago Bulls are involved in their fair share of trade rumors as the deadline approaches. Given the current state of the franchise, though, being involved in rumors and discussions with other teams simply is not enough. This team needs trade deadline activity, not just talk. Let me explain why.
The Bulls are under new leadership since last season ended, led by Executive Vice President – Basketball Operations Arturas Karnisovas. When he took over, many fans expected drastic changes to the roster and smarter moves than the team had been making in the years prior. Instead, the Bulls underwent a very inactive offseason in regards to player movement.
Now, it isn’t fair to bash new management for holding their chips when they took over. Jim Boylen had coached the team prior to them taking over, and it was quite clear he wasn’t maximizing most of the players’ talent on the roster. The approach to see what they have in terms of player talent under a good coach in Billy Donovan is 100 percent justifiable and likely the smartest way to do business.
As we approach the new management’s first deadline in control, though, it’s safe to assume they have learned enough about the current roster to know who fits and who does not in their long-term plan. Part of the risk of the patient approach was players could lose value on the trade market. That’s fine, as it also helped the front office avoid pulling the trigger on something they would later regret. With a much larger sample size at their hands, they have to know more about the group than they did coming in.
That’s why we can not see a deadline in which they don’t get involved on some front. Whether it be a big move of their own or helping facilitate a multi-team trade, the organization needs to begin building toward the future they envision instead of holding onto a past they want to move out of.
The roster, as currently constructed, doesn’t have much change from the GarPax vision of yesteryear. Fourth overall selection Patrick Williams and veteran signing Garrett Temple are actually the only players the new regime has brought in. So as justifiable as being patient was, it isn’t nearly as understandable once the deadline has passed.
At a certain point, we need to see the leadership in charge begin fulfilling their own long-term plan. That can’t be done through holding onto all the players they inherited because we know what that group’s ceiling is moving forward. If they had the right vision, they would still be employed.
Now is the time for the new front office to show fans they are not fine treading water. Move on from players that are not a part of what they want to do moving forward and at the same time take a step away from the former front office which led to Bulls fan’s disappointment for so many years.
It doesn’t have to be drastic. It can be, though. Whatever they view as the moves to bring this team back to the top. If they don’t do anything, aren’t we right to begin questioning whether they truly will be that much of an improvement over the prior front office?
I, like many, am a big believer in what this group will do with the team. That being said, frustration will begin to show if they hang onto the GarPax players we had on the roster heading into another offseason. Let us see what the vision for this team is, not what the vision for this team was. Rome wasn’t built in a day, and it’s time for Arturas and his team to begin building their own empire.