Chicago's offense stalled, and the Bulls turned the ball over a whopping 33 times in a July 11 summer league loss to the Toronto Raptors, highlighting their need to re-sign starting point guard Josh Giddey.
Giddey, a restricted free agent, and the Bulls are stuck in negotiations over a new long-term deal for the 22-year-old floor general. It was reported before the season that Giddey and his camp wanted a contract similar to the five-year, $150 million one Orlando Magic point guard Jalen Suggs got last summer.
But Chicago, which is only negotiating against itself, has rightly been reluctant to hand out such a massive deal. At some point, the two sides will come to an agreement, and Giddey will be back. That's good news, based on how epically bad the offense looked in its first summer league contest.
Josh Giddey is essential to what the Chicago Bulls want to do
With the all-too-important caveat that summer league games don't mean much in the grand scheme of things (but we all like to overreact to them anyway), the Bulls' offense was dreadful in the loss to the Raptors.
With second-year pro and regular season starter Matas Buzelis and this year's No. 12 overall pick Noa Essengue both playing close to 25 minutes, it was Javon Freeman-Liberty who was the best player on the floor for Chicago. Freeman-Liberty scored a team-high 21 points on 5-of-6 shooting from the field. He got to the free-throw line 13 times and knocked down 10. Buzelis scored 17, but no other player reached double figures.
Alarmingly, the Bulls only had eight assists compared to those 33 turnovers. That's where Giddey's importance comes into the conversation.
Head coach Billy Donovan's team won't get 15-plus minutes from Yuki Kawamura, Wooga Poplar, Caleb Grill or David Muoka during the regular season. The talent and experience levels will dramatically increase. But his team still wants to play in summer league the way it will in the regular season: turn teams over, get out in transition and score easy baskets. Giddey is the key to that.
As a jumbo guard at 6-foot-8 who averaged career highs in rebounds (8.1) and assists (7.2) in the aforementioned system last season, Giddey is the engine and driver of the offense. Without him, this kind of up-tempo, transition scheme will stall out.
As the Bulls' front office and Giddey haggle over a new deal, the embarrassing loss to the Raptors - even if it came in summer league - is evidence enough that Chicago needs the Aussie at the controls