3 Bulls who won’t be on the 2022-2023 roster after playoff elimination
1. Tristan Thompson
The Bulls picked Thompson up on the buyout market with the thought of him providing rebounding, defense and leadership. As a veteran, he was supposed to be the presence in the locker room that calms and guides the young players on the team.
That hasn’t appeared to happen, at least by the look of the team’s body language whenever the opposing team went on an offensive run. The Bulls were quick to fold when things got bad, and the on-court leadership hasn’t been there.
It makes former Bucks star Brandon Jennings’ take on Thompson look less outrageous. In a since-deleted tweet, Jennings blamed Thompson for the team’s poor play, slamming the veteran for negatively influencing the roster.
While the take was wild in the moment (and still a little out there now), the idea that Thompson would be that vet for this team wasn’t the brightest in hindsight. Thompson was supposed to take on that role with the Sacramento Kings and failed miserably. He instead served as one of many distractions for the team while calling out the guys on the court publicly without it ever translating to anything good.
The latter has been his tenure in Chicago. The Bulls would have a poor game, and Thompson would add to the issue by getting into silly skirmishes at the end of blowouts and receiving techs at the worst times. He also has had his fiery media availabilities where he called out the team and then the rest of the roster didn’t respond.
None of this would be as bad if he gave the Bulls something on the court … but he didn’t. He’s been food for opposing centers each game. He was practically unplayable in the Bucks series.
Thompson hinted at retiring in a letter earlier this year and honestly should. If he doesn’t, the Bulls will just have to watch him leave.
