The Chicago Bulls will start a new training camp next week but still have some of the same problems from last season.
The team will pay lip service in media day about optimism and high hopes, but they still have a ton of questions hovering over them and some early red flags emerging before camp even starts.
The Zach LaVine problem isn’t going away
Darnell Mayberry had a great piece in The Athletic recently that talked about how the Bulls and Zach LaVine were trying to move past some of the ugliness from the summer.
The good news is that LaVine has been showing up to voluntary team mini-camps and playing pick-up with his teammates. But this doesn’t change anything, as the Bulls are still going to trade him to the first team that has an offer they can stomach.
And what is LaVine supposed to do? No one benefits from him pouting or taking all the trade rumors personally. His best chance of winning or ending up in a better situation is to play well and do his job.
The interesting thing will be to see if LaVine will adjust his game to better suit Josh Giddey and Coby White. That one is still pending.
Is Patrick Williams hurt already?
The mini-camp good vibes were dampened by news that Williams, who signed a $90 million contract this summer, “experienced discomfort during the team’s minicamp in Miami and required additional rest” according to Mayberry.
Great.
Williams’ contract was suspect for this very reason, and even though this is a minor setback (for now), it has to be concerning for the Bulls, who just invested heavily in Williams on a five-year deal that has an inexplicable player option at the end of it.
This is something to watch as training camp progresses, as Williams’ availability for the start of the season is now in question, which could open the door for rookie Matas Buzelis to begin the season in the starting lineup.
This has future mess written all over it.
Lonzo Ball in wait-and-see mode
Of course, everything around Lonzo Ball and his injured knees has been positive this offseason, but count me as skeptical until I see it for real.
Ball has been scrimmaging with his teammates, which is a great first step. He can only clear challenges as they are presented, so we’ll have to take a wait-and-see approach with Ball.
The next hurdle will be to survive training camp and preseason games. It’s still a long way to the regular season, and until Lonzo is playing regularly and looks healthy, the Bulls can’t get too excited about what he can offer.
For a team that figures to be mediocre next season at best, the Bulls do have plenty of interesting subplots as training camp gets underway.