Regardless of whether they make the postseason or not, the Chicago Bulls need to focus on revamping their roster moving forward.
Coming off of a loss against the Memphis Grizzles, the Chicago Bulls are ninth in the Eastern Conference with a record of 39-39. They have four more games to play, two road games against the Miami Heat and the New Orleans Pelicans, as well as two at home versus the Cleveland Cavaliers and the Philadelphia 76ers. And they are two games behind the eighth-place Detroit Pistons.
What will happen to the Bulls in the immediate future is anybody’s guess.
Although it seems very unlikely that both Chicago will be able to pull off enough wins to advance and their competitors will lose enough to be knocked out, one never really knows in this league. Especially by way of a team that has been the definition of inconsistent as of late.
The Heat have won the last three matchups. And the Cavaliers are first in the East for a reason.
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But the Pelicans are 29-48. And the 76ers have only won 10 games this season. Yes, 10.
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If Chicago does end up pulling through, it is highly unlikely that they will survive past the first round. And unfortunately, making the postseason in no way erases the confusingly ugly 2015-16 season that everyone has had to painfully endure since October.
So, what will happen come summer?
In an ideal world, the entire Bulls front office would be reworked. Because if one is truly honest with themselves, regardless of who is on the roster down the line, the organization will still be flawed as long as guys like Gar Forman and John Paxson are in charge.
But ideal is not real, as Gar/Pax should have been gone a long time ago.
Therefore, the franchise’s best chance of redeeming itself is to work out a trade (or two).
For example, Comcast Sportnet Chicago’s Mark Schanowski, proposed a deal involving the 76ers:
"“…meanwhile, the 7-foot-1 [Joel] Embiid has been tearing it up in team workouts recently, finally looking like the player everyone had scouted leading up to the 2014 draft. [Jerry] Colangelo and the rest of the Sixers’ brain trust believe Embiid might be the better long-term option at center, which means [Jahlil] Okafor could be available in the days leading up to the June 23 draft.Could the Bulls pry him loose with an offer of Nikola Mirotic and a first-round pick? Or would it take a pair of No. 1s and either Mirotic or Taj Gibson to get Colangelo’s attention?”"
And he definitely has the right idea.
The Bulls current roster has to be shaken up in a big way moving forward, in order to even get close to actually living up to the organization’s potential for success.
Jimmy Butler was recently the center of some trade talk himself, although a move like that should mean Chicago would be left with a superstar on their hands, while speculation of how trading teammate Derrick Rose would work has been going on for months now.
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At this point, the possibilities are basically endless. But what is certain is that the front office needs to stop hoping things get better the way they are, and actually do something about it.