Now that the Chicago Bulls have re-signed their star, added a few veterans, and filled all 15 roster spots, I think we can officially say they’re done making moves for the 2022 offseason. Barring a big trade, the team will enter the season looking exactly as it does now. While many people were hoping for a big splash, this may actually turn out to be the best possible outcome.
By re-signing their two best free agents, drafting Dalen Terry, and adding Andre Drummond and Goran Dragic in free agency, the Bulls actually did a lot to address the biggest holes on the team.
These weren’t the moves that make headlines as we saw from them in the summer of 2021, but they are the moves that will help this team continue winning a lot of basketball games.
The Chicago Bulls have addressed 3 glaring weaknesses this offseason.
3. Defensive switchability on the wing
With the massive success teams like the Golden State Warriors have had by spamming pick and roll sets and constant movement into off-ball screens, the need for defenders who are laterally agile enough to defend guards as well as long and strong enough to stay in front of big men is higher than ever. Whenever one style of play becomes too dominant in the NBA, other teams will always look to counter it with a new approach.
As a pioneer of this new method, perhaps no team has embraced the need for defensively switchable wings more than the Toronto Raptors. They have made an effort to specifically target players with long wingspans and versatile frames in the 6’7″ to 6’9″ height range. They have also been extremely successful at adding these players, with a ridiculous total of 10 players on their roster fitting this narrow description.
This philosophy is what propelled the Raptors to an unforgettable championship run in 2019 and has helped them remain a top team in the East even after losing Kawhi Leonard in free agency. That’s why it’s a relief to see the Bulls seemingly taking a page out of Toronto’s book.
Derrick Jones Jr. comes just short of Toronto’s preferred height range at 6’6″, but his enormous 7-foot wingspan more than compensates for that. Jones Jr. proved last year to be exactly the player the Bulls are looking for to fill this role, capable of playing both forward positions and defending all five positions in switching scenarios. His frame and explosiveness even allow him to play a bit of small ball center, but now that the Bulls have a legitimate backup behind Nikola Vucevic I don’t expect that to be necessary next season.
Chicago also took another step to address this hole by drafting Dalen Terry, who stands at 6’7″ and also comes in just a quarter-inch shy of a 7-foot wingspan. Terry is still slight of frame, so I don’t expect him to be defending bigs just yet, but he also carries that defensive upside and switchability that has become so coveted. Both of these players should slide in nicely alongside Patrick Williams and hopefully help the Bulls become a respectable defensive unit.