Heading into the offseason, the Chicago Bulls set their sights on improvement. Arturas Karnisovas made it clear that the team had no intention of rebuilding the roster despite some fans and media saying that Chicago should choose that direction. But instead, they’ve made additions.
The Bulls re-signed Nikola Vucevic, Coby White, and Ayo Dosunmu, and in free agency, they brought in Jevon Carter and Torrey Craig. Rather than tearing things down, the Bulls brought back core pieces and added rotation guys to improve the overall ceiling of the roster. But was it enough to help them get over the hump?
Dan Favale of Bleacher Report recently ripped into the Bulls for their summer moves, placing them among his list of five teams that will “regret” their offseason.
“Chicago Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas essentially began the offseason touting the merits of the Nikola Vučević trade,” Favale wrote. “That is, unequivocally, a weird thing to do in service of a deal that cost the Bulls Wendell Carter Jr., Franz Wagner and Jett Howard (this year’s No. 11 pick) and culminated in zero playoff-series victories.
“We shouldn’t expect Karnišovas to publicly dump all over his own body of work or a player whom Chicago was trying to bring back. To be even more fair, the Bulls have done nothing over the offseason to materially worsen their trajectory.
“Deals for Vooch (three years, $60 million), Jevon Carter (three years, $19.5 million), Torrey Craig (two years, $5.4 million), Ayo Dosunmu (three years, $21 million) and Coby White (three years, $36 million) are all fine. Chicago scooped up the No. 35 pick (Julian Phillips), too.
“However, these read like a series of transactions from a team preserving its present. In the Bulls’ case, that means scrapping and clawing to protect proximity to 40 wins.
“This should have been an offseason in which they explored a proper reset. They didn’t. They didn’t pointedly improve themselves, either. They remain uninspiring and stranded, spinning their wheels without discernible aim.
“But hey, at least they (predictably) skated juuust beneath the luxury tax!”
What do you think of the Bulls’ offseason?
