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Chicago Bulls: Best Move They Did And Didn’t Make

By Josh Cornelissen

Jul 18, 2016; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Jerian Grant (2) dribbles the ball during the NBA Summer League final against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Thomas & Mack Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 18, 2016; Las Vegas, NV, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Jerian Grant (2) dribbles the ball during the NBA Summer League final against the Minnesota Timberwolves at Thomas & Mack Center. Mandatory Credit: Stephen R. Sylvanie-USA TODAY Sports /
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The Chicago Bulls have had a busy offseason retooling their backcourt. What was their best move, and what move was left undone?

Basketball deals in greatness, but not in perfection. The best regular-season team of all time, last year’s Golden State Warriors, still accrued nine losses along the way. The best shooters of all time still miss as many as they make. Blowout victories still see the opposing team scoring 60 or more points.

The same idea applies to NBA offseasons, where teams often take small steps back as they ultimately strive to take great leaps ahead. In surveying the entire league to highlight the steps in both directions, the featured team today is the Chicago Bulls.

Their offseason began with a bang, as former MVP Derrick Rose was shipped to the New York Knicks. As the Bulls added youth in the draft and veterans in free agency, how did they improve their team? And what move was out there that they missed out on?

Apr 7, 2016; Miami, FL, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose (1) looks on during the second half against the Miami Heat at American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports
Apr 7, 2016; Miami, FL, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Derrick Rose (1) looks on during the second half against the Miami Heat at American Airlines Arena. Mandatory Credit: Steve Mitchell-USA TODAY Sports /

Best Move They Made: Trading Derrick Rose

When the homegrown star Derrick Rose ended up in Chicago, it was a perfect match. He flourished immediately, and within a few years was hoisting an MVP trophy after the Bulls won 62 games. But the magic disappeared as Rose suffered injury after injury, unable to stay on the court. His unique athleticism and courage on the court were sapped.

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Rose was never going to regain his MVP form – in Chicago or elsewhere – and the Bulls were right to move on. Next season Rose was going to be a free agent, when they would have lost him for nothing — or, perhaps even worse, re-signed him to a market deal.

Locking in an aging, injury-prone point guard with the ghosts of rings un-won would have kept this franchise mired in the past and unable to move forward.

By trading Rose to the New York Knicks, the Bulls added a competent center in Robin Lopez and a first-round point guard in Jerian Grant. While he has shown flashes, Grant’s upside is most likely as a backup. Still, the Bulls have him on a very cheap contract for the next few years, giving them flexibility to replace Rose while still grooming a potential replacement.

Chicago’s moves to replace Rose will be mentioned below, but the trade for Rose should be evaluated on its own. With Rose’s inability to stay on the court and his alpha-dog mentality, his departure allows the Bulls to be Jimmy Butler’s team. The baggage of Derrick Rose was too much for this team to bear, and they made the right move in freeing themselves of it.

Jul 29, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Dwayne Wade (right) and Bulls general manager Gar Forman pose for a photo after addressing the media after a press conference at Advocate Center. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports
Jul 29, 2016; Chicago, IL, USA; Chicago Bulls guard Dwayne Wade (right) and Bulls general manager Gar Forman pose for a photo after addressing the media after a press conference at Advocate Center. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports /

Best Move They Didn’t Make: Upgrading Their Scouting Reports From 2010

With Derrick Rose’s contract off the books, the Bulls had a choice before them. They could build a complementary roster around Jimmy Butler, or they could trade Butler and reset their roster. With few if any teams desiring to bottom out next season, and one of the deepest drafts in years on the horizon, this could have been the perfect opportunity to leap to the bottom only to leap back up quickly.

Instead the Bulls decided to pursue competency, signing veterans to replace those they lost. In and of itself, that is not a poor decision. Pau Gasol, Joakim Noah, and Derrick Rose took with them a lot of experience, and finding quality veterans to take their place could have lifted the Bulls back into the playoffs without mortgaging the future.

However, Chicago stuck its head firmly in the past. In 2010 both Derrick Rose and Pau Gasol played in the NBA All-Star Game; to replace their offensive roles, the Bulls chose another pair of 2010 All-Stars in Rajon Rondo and Dwyane Wade.

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    • Last year Rondo racked up assists running the point for the Sacramento Kings, but he didn’t do much else. Once known for his defensive prowess, Rondo was a negative defender last season. Not only did opposing point guards blow by him with ease, but on the team level no one gave up more points per game last season than the Sacramento Kings.

    Signing Rondo to replace Rose was a short-sighted decision focused on past accomplishments and not the current state of Rondo’s game. The 30-year old guard can only benefit a team’s offense with the ball in his hands; this negates Butler’s growing prowess as a playmaker and limits him to a spot-up shooter.

    The problems are only compounded by pairing Rondo in the backcourt with Dwyane Wade. The future Hall of Fame shooting guard saw much more success last season, scoring 19 points per game for a 48-win Miami Heat team. He made the All-Star game, starting for the Eastern Conference team. When the playoffs came, Flash led a battered Heat team to a Game 7 in the second round.

    But Wade is 34, and last season’s 74 games played were his most since 2010-11. He has chronic knee issues that have sapped his speed and athleticism. Other than a handful of playoff games, his three-point shot has completely vanished. Alongside Rondo, the Bulls now boast the worst shooting of any backcourt in the league.

    Rondo and Wade are turnstiles on defense at this point in their careers, and both have gone from minimal outside shooters to complete non-shooters. Along with Chicago’s options at center – Robin Lopez or Cristiano Felicio – that ensures 60 percent of the starting lineup will be unable to shoot. Butler, not a sniper himself, will have a larger spacing burden placed on him even as the ball is yanked from his hands to feed Rondo and Wade.

    must read: Atlanta Hawks: Best move

    In the end, the Bulls may end up on the road they chose to depart. In signing veterans past their prime, ones wholly unable to fit together, Chicago chased relevance. Instead the results may be so poor as to unintentionally launch the Bulls into the top of the lottery. Cleansing the franchise of Derrick Rose was a necessary move; the cleansing for the era of “non-spacing” may be a much tougher road.

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