The Chicago Bulls have somewhat clarified their direction as a franchise, but there are still some big questions hanging over this team.
It’s been a disastrous offseason in some ways, as the Bulls clearly waited too long to trade DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso and had to accept lesser deals.
They did land an exciting player in the draft in Matas Buzelis and made moves towards a rebuild with the addition of Josh h Giddey and the re-signing of Patrick Williams.
But as Zach Lowe asked in a recent thrashing of the Bulls, “what is this team?”
It’s the real question that needs to be answered but it can be broken into parts.
Question #1: Are the Bulls tanking or not?
I should say that I am against tanking but there are times when it makes sense and the Bulls may be there.
They own a top-10 protected pick that they’d like to keep, as the 2025 draft is much deeper with perceived star talent. Another lottery pick added to what they already have and the Bulls have the makings of a solid young core to build around.
But it’s not clear if they are quite bad enough to tank, as there are still some lousy teams in the Eastern Conference who are also licking their chops over Cooper Flagg and the 2025 Draft.
The Bulls’ defense will be atrocious as currently constructed, but with Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic still on the roster, they could have enough offensively to at least keep themselves out of the bottom 3-4 teams.
There is still plenty of time before next season, and there are trades that would make it clear which direction the Bulls are headed, but as of right now, they are in the middle zone again, exactly where they don’t want to be.