Last Season: 31-41, 11th in Eastern Conference
Last year at the trade deadline the Chicago Bulls decided to go for it, trading multiple present and future assets for Nikola Vucevic. He is such a unique offensive center that he bends a defense by spacing out, with the shooting and the passing to punish whatever scheme they throw at him. Yet the Bulls fell short of even the play-in tournament.
Determined not to suffer the same fate this year, the Bulls continued their complete makeover. They performed a sign-and-trade for Lonzo Ball, another for DeMar DeRozan, signed Alex Caruso and allowed Lauri Markkanen to go to the Cleveland Cavaliers. This new-look roster looks heavy on ball-handling and light on defense. Can it make noise in the Eastern Conference, or will it be relegated to the play-in?
Key Offseason Move: Adding Lonzo Ball. With recent Top-10 pick Coby White still on the roster, the Bulls made the decision to invest heavily in their backcourt alongside Zach LaVine. Ball was signed to a four-year, $85 million deal to start for Chicago.
There are some things that Ball does remarkably well, like throw passes in transition, shoot off-the-catch and cause turnovers. He doesn’t do a lot of the traditional “guard who makes $21 per season” things, like creating a shot for himself or averaging 20 points per game. The Bulls hope he’s the perfect fit alongside a player in LaVine who can do those things.