The Chicago Bulls began the offseason with big goals ahead of them. They had no interest in tearing down the roster. Instead they set their sights on improving the ceiling of the team around Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic, who they re-signed at the beginning of the summer.
They followed Vucevic’s extension by bringing back Coby White and signing Jevon Carter and Torrey Craig in free agency. While the bulk of free agency has come and gone, however, the Bulls still have time to add pieces to their squad, and Zach Buckley of Bleacher Report suggested a few options.
Among the options, Buckley brought up the idea of Chicago adding Austin Rivers in an article titled “Bulls Minimum Contracts to Pursue as Late NBA Free Agency Steals.”
“He would give this group more experience (including 64 career playoff games), an ability to play either guard spot, some pesky perimeter defense and maybe more offense than he’s shown of late,” Buckley wrote. “He had a two-year stretch earlier in his career when he shot a strong percentage from three (37.5) on decent volume (4.9 attempts per game), so maybe there’s hope of him getting his groove back on that end.
And, to be clear, he hasn’t been disastrous on offense in recent seasons. His scoring output has plummeted (career-lows each of the past two seasons), but he’s been a 35.3 percent shooter from range since the start of 2019-20.”
Rivers appeared in 52 games for the Minnesota Timberwolves this past year, playing 19.5 minutes per contest. He averaged 4.9 points, 1.6 rebounds, and 1.4 assists while shooting 43.5% from the field and 35% from distance.
