Chicago Bulls: Backcourt gets defensive boost with Alex Caruso

A nice way to cap off a busy initial day in the free agency negotiation window early this week came for the Chicago Bulls. On the evening/night of Aug. 2, the Bulls signed two players to help upgrade the backcourt rotation. The first was the former New Orleans Pelicans point guard and restricted free agent Lonzo Ball.

And the second guard that executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley signed on the night of Aug. 2 was the former Los Angeles Lakers standout defensive point guard Alex Caruso. The one-time NBA Champion and former Texas A&M Aggy spent his entire career to date in the league with the Lakers.

But it seemed like Caruso was excited about the prospect of getting to sign with the Bulls by his reaction on social media. He reacted on his Twitter timeline on the night of Aug. 2 almost immediately after the news of the Bulls signing him was announced.

Chicago Bulls get much better defensively by adding Alex Caruso

The Bulls reportedly signed Caruso on a four-year deal worth around $37 million. With the Bulls shipping off the likes of veteran shooting guard Garrett Temple and combo guard Tomas Satoransky to the Pelicans in the deal that landed this team Lonzo, there was another spot in the backcourt unit open for Caruso.

What Caruso provides for the Bulls is a much-needed defensive upgrade to the backcourt rotation. The Bulls just lost likely the best defender that head coach Billy Donovan had among guards last season in Temple. Caruso is younger and more potent on offense than Temple too. Granted, Caruso is more expensive than Temple in terms of average annual value.

Caruso really contributed whatever the Lakers needed him to in the past four seasons. Last season, he averaged 6.4 points per game, 2.9 rebounds, 2.8 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.3 blocks. And he shot 43.6 percent from the field, 40.1 percent from beyond the arc, and 64.5 percent from the free-throw line.

There were a lot of areas in which Caruso contributed for the Lakers last season. He was a solid distributor of the basketball, an effective rebounding point guard, and a knockdown shooter from deep. That helps to fill a lot of the needs that Donovan and the Bulls had this offseason.

In a span of just a few hours, the Bulls got a lot better on the defensive end of the floor in the backcourt unit. Lonzo and Caruso are also much more efficient three-point shooters than the Bulls had from the combination of Sato and Temple.

Karnisovas and the Bulls are off to a solid, but expensive, start to the first day of this cycle of free agency in the negotiation window. We’ll see where the front office goes in the second day of the negotiation window as more dominos continue to fall.