The Chicago Bulls seemed to be operating with no definitive plan at the trade deadline— other than to tear things down.
On the one hand, this approach is respectable. After years of mediocrity and borderline Play-In contention, it became clear that the roster had very little chance of seriously competing for a championship. Chicago took what they could get for their trade assets and will now look to start fresh this offseason.
On the other hand, there was always bound to be some disappointments or some misevaluations of players that would spring from this series of trade. The most obvious were their trades of Ayo Dosunmu and Coby White. Those assets didn't yield a bad haul, per se, but it's easy to be underwhelmed with what Chicago got in return for a pair of pieces that were once viewed as premier assets at the deadline.
Their most public failure of the trade deadline, however, was their acquisition of Jaden Ivey, who was cut not even two months after his arrival due to personal and locker room issues.
Thankfully, the primary piece the Bulls gave up in that trade, Kevin Huerter, hasn't made the deal look any worse with his play for the Detroit Pistons in the playoffs.
Kevin Huerter has been a non-factor for the Pistons so far in the playoffs
On paper, the trade made sense for all teams involved. The Bulls moved off salary through their acquisition and release of Mike Conley and gained a young player with something to prove in Ivey. Detroit, for their part, gained a floor-spacer and connective depth piece to help aid some of their offensive struggles down the stretch of the season.
Of course, it didn't work out for Chicago. But the Pistons haven't fared much better with Huerter.
Huerter began his time in Detroit almost completely sidelined from the rotation. He saw the court in just five of his first 11 games with the organization. After that, he saw relatively extensive minutes over the final month and a half of the regular season, averaging 9.9 points, 3.2 rebounds, and three assists while shooting just 31.5% from beyond the arc.
The hope for the Pistons was the Huerter's shooting struggles this season in Chicago could change with new surroundings. That hasn't been the case.
In the three full games Huerter played for Detroit in the playoffs before he went down with an adductor strain, he averaged 13 minutes on the court and just two points. He sunk two of his five 3-point attempts in that span, but it's clear that Huerter has not become a trusted offensive piece for J.B. Bickerstaff and the Pistons.
At the very least, the Bulls can take solace in the fact that Huerter hasn't made the Ivey trade sting any worse than it already did.
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