The Chicago Bulls have been ripped apart by the NBA media this offseason for the work (or lack thereof) they’ve put in. Add another to that list, as one NBA insider gave them a D+ grade and said things do not look good for the future of this franchise.
NBA insider destroys Chicago Bulls’ offseason
The Chicago Bulls got a D+ grade from The Athletic, with Joel Lorenzi summing up why. That is the second-worst grade in the entire NBA. The only team that had a worse offseason was the New Orleans Pelicans, who got a barely worse D grade.
This is largely because, as Lorentzi put it, “Chicago still hasn’t committed to a rebuild: Call when hell gets chilly.” Fans wanted some sort of sign of progress after yet another middling year in which the Bulls crashed out of the Play-In Tournament and fell in the top section of the lottery. They didn’t get it.
“The Bulls responded this summer by extending coach Billy Donovan and dealing away Lonzo Ball without receiving any draft capital,” Lorenzi said. “Perhaps Noa Essengue could bloom into a starter. Perhaps Isaac Okoro becomes rejuvenated in Chicago. But those things hinge on the promise of internal development.”
A lot of Chicago’s growth depends on whether or not this current team can get better. They would need Matas Buzelis to make a leap, which he very well might. They’d need Josh Giddey, once he is officially re-signed, to build upon his good finish to the year and prove he can be an impact player on a good team.
The Bulls would need Noa Essengue to be a hidden gem that becomes a starter-level player sooner rather than later, and they’d need some aging players, like Nikola Vucevic, to stave off the regression that’s surely coming for at least a little while longer.
That’s a lot of things that could go either way, which is far from exciting from a fan perspective, as Lorenzi mentioned. The Bulls did very little this offseason, and most of it was just running in place. That doesn’t bode well for the future.
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