Chicago Bulls: 3 takeaways from the Justin Holiday trade

1. The Chicago Bulls are embracing the rebuild

Last week, I wrote that the front office needed to fully commit to the rebuild. It seemed that with Holiday playing so many minutes, the team was sending mixed messages on whether they were embracing the rebuilding process. Thursday’s move sent signals that they were indeed still planning on developing their young players.

Despite the fact that Wendell Carter Jr. only played 13 minutes in their latest loss, a blowout to the Orlando Magic, moving Holiday, and most importantly his minutes, means that there will be more opportunities for younger players to show their value to the team. Now, it will be crucial for Boylen to provide his squad with those valuable minutes.

This team is still set up for a bright future. Lauri Markkanen is rounding into form, Zach LaVine is their go-to scoring threat and Kris Dunn is providing solid play from the backcourt. The Bulls have been devastated by the injury bug and their struggles can largely be blamed on their core players rarely being on the court at the same time.

The key for this franchise, with a poor record and being lottery-bound, is to commit this season to developing the roster. Carter must play more than 13 minutes, the offense needs to flow through Markkanen, and LaVine and Dunn need to develop their backcourt chemistry.

Thursday’s move was a good start toward achieving these goals.