Chicago Bulls: 3 takeaways from the 2018 offseason

1. The future does look really bright for Chicago Bulls fans

Let’s put it this way: two years ago, the Bulls were attempting to tread water in a sinking boat. Jimmy Butler was waving off head coach Fred Hoiberg, Rajon Rondo was taking shots at teammates through social media and Dwyane Wade was dreaming of South Beach.

Now, the Bulls are led by exciting big men Lauri Markkanen and Carter. Even Parker is still just 23 years old. Add the impressive play of Bobby Portis last season with the promising Chandler Hutchison and the bench mob looks solid too. At the very least, LaVine will provide highlight level excitement to the United Center, both on offense and defense. Unfortunately, most of the defensive highlights will be of him giving up SportsCenter gems.

There are some big “ifs” in the mix for the Bulls to be successful. The biggest one is Kris Dunn. He’s going to be looked at as the quarterback of this team, both offensively and defensively. He will need to continue developing his outside shot in order for Markkanen, LaVine and Parker to be fully effective.

These aren’t the slow, prodding defensive teams of Tom Thibodeau. This new Bulls era will be entertaining for fans to say the least. Chicago has a nice young core of talent. Competing for a playoff spot in the Eastern Conference is a reasonable expectation for this group. At this point, getting back to mediocrity should be seen as progress for this squad.

Fred Hoiberg finally has the pieces he’s been longing for. Now, it’ll be up to him to make sure those pieces fit efficiently.