The Chicago Bulls are entering a crucial offseason. After years of a front office deluding itself into thinking the team was closer to contention than it really was, a new dawn is here. There are no expectations, no aging veterans on big contracts, and some young guys who could feasibly turn into franchise pillars.
Staying patient and staying the course is probably the name of the game for whoever is put in charge of building this roster. ESPN NBA analyst and former front office executive Bobby Marks said, in essence, the Bulls must not rush into another half-developed plan:
"I don't want to see the Chicago Bulls in free agency sign, just hypothetically, Austin Reaves to a four-year, $140 million contract. I don't want to see that... What you want to do is build this organically, and doing it organically starts with getting a little bit lucky in the draft and nailing your draft picks."
This was completely hypothetical from Marks, as he wasn't actually connecting Reaves to the Bulls. His point makes sense — the Bulls tried to force their way to success a few years ago and it left them in no-man's land for years. A repeat of that would be a nightmare. In that sense, I agree with him (and wrote basically the same thing recently).
Austin Reaves specifically is good enough to jump the gun for
With that being said... If the Bulls can sign Austin Reaves specifically, they probably should. A 27 year-old ball-handler who is probably just entering his prime and looked pretty impressive when he was the main scoring option for his team is very different than the kind of players they signed years ago to form the Bulls of the early 2020s.
That's a cornerstone piece; he doesn't perfectly align with the timelines of the young guys, but theoretically, Matas Buzelis would be going into his fifth season while Reaves would be on year three of his contract.
I'm getting ahead of myself. The Bulls are very unlikely to sign Reaves, as the Lakers have made it clear that he's a huge part of their future plans. So this hypothetical will likely remain a hypothetical. And in essentially all other instances, I do agree that patience will be critical (and potentially hard to exhibit as the Bulls will have money to spend).
Reaves is one of a few guys who, if they want to be a Bull, the team should oblige. All-Star level players (which I believe Reaves is) in their mid-20s are good additions for pretty much every team, at all points of a rebuild.
But if those guys don't come knocking, the new front office must not force the issue. As Marks said, "the future is bright," but there's much work to be done in the meantime. Patience might be painful this offseason, as fans will watch big-name free agents sign elsewhere. But, assuming the perfect player to lead a rebuild doesn't land in the Bulls' lap, sitting back and simply observing is the direction to go.