The Chicago Bulls’ offseason has been a confusing mess.
They hinted at a rebuild by trading Alex Caruso and DeMar DeRozan, but have so far held onto Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic, which puts that in jeopardy.
They also signed Jalen Smith to a value contract, but he too is good enough to thwart their efforts to bottom out and keep their top-10 protected pick in 2025.
The Bulls still had some of their mid-level exception left after the Jalen Smith signing and have made another confusing addition.
Shams Charania of The Athletic first reported that the Bulls had signed free agent Talen Horton-Tucker to a partially guaranteed deal.
Free agent guard Talen Horton-Tucker has agreed to a partially guaranteed deal with the Chicago Bulls, sources tell @TheAthletic. The Chicago native returns home and will have an opportunity to make Bulls roster after averaging 10.5 points over the last two seasons in Utah. pic.twitter.com/YPoIfrurh7
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) September 4, 2024
Horton-Tucker continues an offseason when you have to ask what exactly the Bulls are doing.
Chicago Bulls free agency: Talen Horton-Tucker doesn’t make sense
Talen Horton-Tucker has been a role player for the Lakers and most recently with the Jazz, where he averaged just over 10 points per game over the last two seasons.
He’s a tough player who can be slotted into several positions, but he doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for the Bulls.
The first reason is that he can’t shoot. He is under 30 percent from three-point range for his career and the Bulls need shooters.
There were still a few available, and it would have made more sense for Chicago to grab one instead of a guy who is inefficient from all three levels offensively.
The Bulls also have a logjam at guard already with Josh Giddey, Coby White, Zach LaVine and Ayo Dosunmu all likely to play big minutes.
Horton-Tucker will have a difficult time cracking the rotation.
Even though it seems like he’s been in the league forever (probably because he was overhyped by Lakers’ fans), THT is only 23-years-old, so he does fit into the Bulls’ timeline for a rebuild, but does his game have another level?
It’s hard to be a wing player who can’t shoot, especially when you have a high turnover rate and are far from a lockdown defender.
Every team needs deep-bench role players, but the Bulls would have been better suited with a developmental project with more upside or at least someone who can shoot the 3-ball.