Doesn’t it feel good to know the Chicago Bulls are position to acquire top-end NBA draft talent come June 2026? The certainty of the Bulls not wallowing in the mid lottery, late lottery, or non-lottery wings of the NBA Draft’s first round for the first time since the 2020 NBA Draft brings a joyful tear to my eye. Bulls fans, enjoy this well-earned moment of satisfaction, because our front has real work to do this summer.
Yes, there is much work to be done between the 2026 NBA Draft combine taking place in Chicago and when the Bulls formally are put on the clock to make (presumably) the fourth overall selection in the 2026 NBA draft. There are fan debates about who the Bulls should select, and by all accounts, the fourth pick in the 2026 NBA draft should deliver the Bulls whoever is left among BYU wing A.J. Dybantsa, Kansas guard Darryn Peterson, Duke big Cameron Boozer, and North Carolina wing Caleb Wilson.
Given the position the Bulls are in, where much of their decision-making on who to select as the fourth overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft will be made as a process of elimination via the three preceding selections, the more substantive debate Bulls fans should ramp up is how the Bulls should develop their top 2026 draft pick.
Development minutes are not an entitlement in a rebuild
The previous Bulls front office regime helmed by Arturas Karnisovas, held a symbiotic player development philosophy with their only head coach, Billy Donovan, that winning games mattered more than player development. How the former Bulls brain trust coalesced around their question player development philosophy is interesting when you recall rookie Patrick Williams started 71 games and averaged 27.9 minutes per game in the 2020-21 NBA regular season.
Rookie Matas Buzelis, on the other hand, appeared in 80 games, started 31 of those 80 games, and averaged 18.9 minutes per game despite flashing early defensive upside as a rookie, finishing his rookie season ranked 12th in block percentage per Basketball Reference. Another Bulls rookie from the former Karnisovas front office regime, Dalen Terry, never had a Bulls regular season where he played 1,000 or more game minutes. For context, 20 minutes per game across 82 games amounts to 1,640 game minutes.
In the rookie spectrum of Williams, Terry, and Buzelis, whoever the Bulls select fourth overall in the 2026 NBA draft should carry a minutes load equal to or greater than that of rookie Patrick Williams, to either develop skills or highlight the player’s development opportunities. Oh, and let’s definitely not waste the fourth pick’s time with Windy City Bulls minutes.
Hopefully, now that Bulls EVP of Basketball Operations Bryson Graham has released Windy City Bulls General Manager Josh Malone, the next Bulls G-League GM will be tasked with a more organic player development focus, as opposed to being a dumping ground for first-round picks who barely get garbage-time minutes in NBA games.
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