Bulls set up to make Alex Caruso mistake again

The Chicago Bulls have been criticized for their recent asset management, especially when it comes to Alex Caruso, DeMar DeRozan and Andre Drummond. 

They had a chance to cash in on these players before they did, settling for smaller returns when it was inevitable that they weren’t part of the future plans. With Drummond, the Bulls got nothing when he left in free agency after turning down picks at the trade deadline. 

In the case of Caruso, the Bulls did get Josh Giddey, a promising young player, but one who is on the cusp of a big raise. They reportedly turned down several first-round picks at the deadline, which is odd from a team that is going into a rebuild and is bereft of draft assets. 

You can argue about Giddey’s value and future, but it’s hard to defend the Bulls waiting so long to trade Caruso, a mistake they are set up to make again.

Chicago Bulls trades: Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu 

There are some differenes between the current situations with Ayo Dosunmu and Coby White compared to Alex Caruso. 

Caruso is 30-years-old, while both White and Dosunmu are 24, guys just entering their primes. 

The similarity is that like Caruso, White and Dosunmu are on great deals that they are vastly outperforming. There would be a robust trade market if the Bulls made either of these players available, just as there was for Caruso, as they have the type of contracts that just about any team could take on and offer impact talent, a valuable commodity in the NBA.

White or Dosunmu could be difference makers on contending teams or players other teams view as possible parts of their young core. 

Of course, the Bulls are one of those teams and could view both White and Dosunmu as guys they can build around and keep the team from totally bottoming out with youth. 

The issue here is that the Bulls will have a tough time keeping both of them, as they will both likely become unrestricted free agents in two years and other teams will be interested. 

If the Bulls cash in now, they risk losing cheap players on the cusp of stardom, but if they don’t, they risk the Caruso situation where they lose all trade leverage and have to take a lesser deal. 

Teams will give up more for players with two guaranteed cheap years left on their contracts, so the Bulls will have to weigh those potential offers against the upside of White and Dosunmu so that they don’t make the same mistake again.