Josh Giddey and Tre Jones are about to return from injury, which means the Chicago Bulls have a franchise-changing decision to make: Play the two heavy minutes to win, or hold them back to lose?
Either way, Bulls fans are about to find out how dedicated this front office is to rebuilding -- or, to say the quiet part out loud, tanking.
Executive VP of Basketball Operations Arturas Karnisovas consummated seven deals before this year's trade deadline to kick off what he calls a new "stage" of the franchise. Gone are stalwarts Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu and Nikola Vucevic. In are nine second-round picks and a new glut of young guards led by Anfernee Simons, Collin Sexton, Rob Dillingham and Jaden Ivey.
Chicago has an unbalanced and confusing roster -- and that's without adding Giddey and Jones into the mix. What happens when they're healthy?
Bulls fans should be keeping close tabs over the next few weeks
The plan has been for Giddey and Jones to return after the All-Star break, and that time has come, which raises three critical questions:
- Do they return as scheduled?
- How many minutes do they play?
- How does the rotation take shape around them?
Giddey has played 34 games this season, 31 of which were starts. The 23-year-old Aussie leads the Bulls in scoring average (18.6), minutes per game (32.1), total assists (299) and has seven triple-doubles. Jones is second on the team in assists (222) and tops in steals (50) while shooting 55.0 percent from the field and posting a better than 4-to-1 assist-to-turnover ratio.
Giddey and Jones were participating in three-on-three games and practicing at full speed before the break, per Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times. The Bulls will be extra cautious with both, but considering their importance to winning, Donovan will surely incorporate them in some fashion.
Josh Giddey and Tre Jones minutes will reveal Bulls next move
If the veteran guards are in the lineup on Feb. 19 against the Toronto Raptors -- Chicago's first game after the break -- it likely means the Bulls have some design on winning, draft position be damned. At that point, it will be worth paying attention to how many minutes Jones and Giddey play, and whether their time on the floor increases.
If the organization slow-plays their return, there's a chance Karnisovas has truly admitted defeat and is more concerned with increasing lottery odds than earning wins.
The Bulls have plenty of decisions to make over the next few months, including what the future holds for Simons, Sexton, Ivey and Dillingham. Shoving two win-now guards into that group and siphoning minutes away from the others doesn't seem logical; the wise move would be to shelve them and watch the rest of the year play out.
At least fans are about to gain a better understanding of the team's priorities heading into a critical summer -- smart or otherwise.