Now just a couple of days ahead of the start of Training Camp and the preseason, the Chicago Bulls look to essentially have the roster set for the next month or so. Obviously, the Bulls are now down to the 15-man roster yet, but a lot of the personnel for the Training Camp roster looks to be in place as of the afternoon of Sep 26.
The Bulls were pretty busy earlier this month to get a bevy of signings into the mix to try and throw numbers at some of the thinner spots in the rotation in terms of depth. Adding the likes of small forward Stanley Johnson, power forward Alize Johnson, forward Tyler Cook, shooting guard Matt Thomas, etc. of late shows just how the front office approached building out the rest of this roster ahead of the start of Training Camp.
But one player that looked to be a candidate to either get a two-way contract slot or at least a non-guaranteed deal, with the Bulls heading into Training Camp was the former Colorado Buffaloes star wing, Tyler Bey. Last season, Bey didn’t get much of a shot to get any traction during his rookie campaign with the Dallas Mavericks.
Chicago Bulls see Tyler Bey walk to sign a two-way deal with the Rockets
The Rockets have signed forward Tyler Bey to a two-way contract, the team said.
— JD Shaw (@JShawNBA) September 26, 2021
Yet, it was the Houston Rockets that reportedly inked Bey down to a two-way contract heading into camp and the preseason. Even though the Bulls still have a two-way contract slot open at this point in time, Bey will not be the one occupying it.
This looks to be a solid signing for the Rockets as Bey has a decent ceiling as a two-way wing in the NBA. The Bulls also gave up on him early following some glimpses that he showed with the Las Vegas NBA Summer League team.
Since the Bulls could use some added wing depth entering camp next week, it would’ve made sense to bring Bey into camp on a non-guaranteed deal at least. Although the front office and coaching staff couldn’t forecast this happening, it would’ve been nice to have Bey as somewhat of an insurance policy to fill depth on the wing following the Patrick Williams injury.
There will now be a larger reliance on other reserve forwards and wings in camp such as Cook, both Johnsons, Thomas, etc.
Bey really showed a lot of progress during his three seasons at Colorado. He’s got a good fundamental shooting stroke and he’s a solid on-ball defender. But it is true that it took Bey a couple of years to really find his rhythm at Colorado. And it will likely take some patience and time with Bey in the NBA for his game to start trending up in a similar fashion.
A lot of what Bey excelled at during his final season at Colorado are aspects that head coach Billy Donovan could use deeper down the bench heading into his second year at the helm. The Bulls can always use more defensive help and outside shooting. It’s as simple as that.
It will be interesting to see how Bey does with the opportunity he holds with the Rockets heading into next season. He’s got a lot of growth left in his game in the NBA. But it won’t be the Bulls that will capitalize on it at the outset of next season.