Chicago Bulls: 5 takeaways from 2017 NBA Summer League

The Chicago Bulls finished NBA Summer League with a 2-3 record as well as a few notable absences. Here are the main takeaways from the tournament.

The Chicago Bulls have been a playoff contender in eight of the last 10 seasons. However, in watching them suffer through five first-round exits during that stretch, two things became clear: 1) They weren’t bad enough to contend for a high draft pick and 2) They didn’t possess the required talent to make a deep playoff run.

So after years of being stuck in basketball purgatory, the Bulls decided it was time to stop settling for being a middle-of-the-road team and go in a different direction. Having said that, the one thing the front office has been vocal about since the trade deadline of last season is retaining and developing its young players.

Most notable of the bunch is, Cameron Payne, who the Bulls acquired as part of a trade with the Oklahoma City Thunder back in February. The Bulls continued in their pursuit to add more young pieces to the mix when they traded Jimmy Butler and the No. 16 pick to the Minnesota Timberwolves in exchange for Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and the seventh overall pick — Lauri Markkanen.

Now that the Bulls have the players they coveted, they were hoping to see some of them take the next step during the Summer League tournament. Did these players make the grade, or did they fall flat on their faces?

Here is a look at the most notable takeaways from this year’s tournament.