5 hometown players the Chicago Bulls should sign before they retire
Looking towards the offseason, there are plenty of rumors flying around about the Chicago Bulls‘ roster and what moves Arturas Karnisovas and the front office will make before next season begins. In terms of free agency, Chicago was once a location that had some pull, where many of the top free agents would consider just based on the Bulls’ name and pedigree alone.
We are long past this, but there is potential for the Chicago Bulls to garner interest from some excellent NBA players, mainly because they come from Illinois. With these hometown connections, the Chicago Bulls have to at least pursue some of these players in the future.
With so much NBA talent coming from the Chicagoland area, the Chicago Bulls should consider signing these five players at some point in the future.
5. Max Strus
Max Strus is a player that the Bulls could actually use now, as he is an excellent three-point shooter and has had significant playing time at the 2-4 positions, showing his versatility. Strus is from the Park Ridge area and attended Amos Alonzo Stagg High School, where he only received one D-I offer to play at Chicago State, which he turned down to attend D-II Lewis University in Romeoville, IL. As a sophomore, he averaged 20.2 points and 8.4 rebounds per game, and ultimately transferred to DePaul, where he was named to the All-Big East 2nd team after recording seasons with 16.8 and 20.1 PPG.
Strus actually played his first two NBA games with the Chicago Bulls, playing a total of 6 minutes toward the end of November 2019. Following a torn ACL injury, he later joined the Miami Heat, where he developed significantly. Strus has used his tremendous shooting ability to play his way into a key role for the Heat, and he has even started all seven games in this year’s playoffs. In addition to his excellent shooting, he is a very smart defender. It is very difficult to get Max Strus to commit errant fouls and he uses his IQ to be in the right place at the right time. This combination demonstrates his value to many NBA teams, as franchises need these qualities in a player.
As the worst three-point shooting team in the league, the Chicago Bulls could definitely use a player like Max Strus to spark their offense. Bulls fans know he can get hot, as we saw firsthand in the play-in game where he helped knock Chicago out of the playoffs. Strus scored 31 points on 8-16 shooting, where he made 7-of-12 from deep. It seemed that he absolutely could not miss, and eventually sent the Bulls packing. Strus is going to be an unrestricted free agent this offseason, and he will definitely be worth a look so the Bulls can improve their three-point shooting.