The Chicago Bulls will start training camp next week after a confusing offseason that left plenty of questions.
Aside from the will they/won’t they with Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic, the Bulls have a number of questions that will start to be answered next week. For now, they appear ready to go with the roster they have and I have questions.
#1: What is this team?
Usually, you can look at a team’s roster and payroll and get a decent idea of where they stand. They are a contender with a max superstar or two, a middle-of-the-pack playoff team or a tanker looking for lottery odds.
With the Bulls it is not so easy.
They lack a true superstar at the top of their roster but instead have a bunch of good-not-great players who are confusing fits or complete unknowns.
You could talk me into the idea of the Bulls being decent enough to compete for a playoff spot (more on that later) or being one of the four worst teams in the NBA depending on how things break.
As it stands, they are likely somewhere between those two things, exactly where you don’t want to be. The Bulls will eventually have to choose an identity, and we may get a first glance at what that looks like in training camp and preseason games.
#2: Whose team is this?
The Bulls will presumably start the season with three ball-dominant guards in the starting lineup. For all of the LaVine trade talk, he is still here, and if he is healthy, he’s the Bulls’ best player on offense.
Is he going to be able to take a back seat to Josh Giddey and Coby White? If all three of these guys play unselfishly, the Bulls could have a dynamic offense that will be difficult to defend (the defense is another matter).
But for Giddey to have space to create, LaVine and White may have to play more off the ball, so the dynamic between those three is something to watch early.
#3: Is Patrick Williams injured already?
There were rumblings out of the Bulls’ mini-camp that Patrick Williams had suffered “discomfort” after scrimmaging with his teammates.
Hopefully, this is just extra caution for a guy coming off surgery but it has to be concerning to the Bulls, who just invested heavily in him presumably to be a featured part of the future.
If Williams is not ready to go, will rookie Matas Buzelis immediately be thrown into the fire? This would not be the worst thing, as the rookie plays with confidence and will provide fans with something to be excited about.
The interesting thing will be if Buzelis plays relatively well in Williams’ absence. Would the Bulls have immediate buyer’s remorse on that contract?
Let’s hope this is all a moot point and Williams is in there right away.
#4: Is Lonzo Ball healthy?
This one is of less long-term importance to the Bulls, but it would be a great story if Lonzo Ball could get back on the court and contribute.
The Bulls can’t count on it, but Ball would be a fascinating X-Factor next season in several ways.
If he’s healthy, the Bulls would have decent depth and could run out some wild lineups that would be tough to defend.
He’s also a potential trade asset as an expiring contract who could help a contender, so if Lonzo is playing well at the trade deadline he could be dealt.
There’s also a long-shot scenario where the Bulls are competitive enough to want to keep Ball around for the long-term.
Ball is a sunk cost at this point and anything they get would be gravy, so let’s hope he makes it through training camp in one piece.
#5: Could the Bulls be sneaky good?
Bear with me for a moment of rare optimism. Let’s start with the ifs:
-If LaVine, Ball and Williams are healthy
-If LaVine, White and Giddey can gel
-If Lonzo Ball is back
-If Vucevic remembers how to shoot 3’s
-If Jalen Smith is better in an expanded role
-If Matas Buzelis is ahead of schedule
-If Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu have another level
-If Billy Donovan can get this team to defend 3-point shots
IF all of those things happened, could the Bulls be good? They should have a high-powered offense and can sprinkle in defenders like Williams, Buzelis, Dosunmu, Ball and Craig to balance the defensively-challenged starting five.
They will potentially have seven good 3-point shooters to spread the floor, which should benefit Giddey.
The defense is likely to be atrocious, so that last “if” may be the hardest to overcome.
It’s the longest of long shots that all of these things happen, but the Eastern Conference is not great and the Bulls may have enough depth and scoring to compete.
But this goes back to question #1: Do they really want to?