Where do the Chicago Bulls Go Even From Here??

Where do the Chicago Bulls Go Even From Here??

The Zack LaVine injury news in which we learned that he will be undergoing surgery and will miss the rest of the season was yet another twist in the LaVine bull Saga one in which had started the beginning of the season when it was first reported that both Zach and

The Bulls would be open to finding a new home and this of course on top of all the other uncertainties and question marks surrounding this roster and their future will Lonzo ball finally be coming back next season will the Bulls be able to retain Patrick Williams as he is set

To become a restrictive free agent this summer will they opt to extend dear who becomes an unrestricted free agent or will they look to trade him before letting him walk this summer for nothing and of course none of this helps when the Bulls are having yet again another underwhelming season sitting in that

Land of mediocrity with no end in sight and with the trade deadline just days away and with the news that Zach will be missing the rest of the season which all but closes the door on a potential trade for him it got me thinking where did the

Bulls even go from here what is the next step for this team not only just for this upcoming trade deadline but for this off off season and Beyond and honestly I actually had a hard time putting this video together because even in putting together scenarios and directions that the Bulls could take

From here on out I quickly realized there really isn’t much they can do the Bulls are pretty stuck in the situation they have found themselves in in this Perpetual state of continuity of mediocrity so bad that even if they wanted to get out of continuity it’s actually going to be more challenging to

Do so than you think how you might ask well let’s dive into the specifics in this video so what’s going on everyone you’re listening to Bulls Central here hope you’re all doing well now when the Bulls decided to make Swift changes at the trade deadline in 2021 in which they

Brought in nikol lavich Daniel tyon and Troy Brown Jr it was clear then that the new regime under management wanted to make this team their own they wanted to create their own roster their own Direction and that was further established when in the offseason the Bulls added Lonzo ball Alex Caruso

Andard de Rosen while getting rid of Larry Markin Thaddius young Garrett Temple Tomas zaransky among others by the end of that season there were only two players who remained from the previous regime in guardar packs and that was Zack LaVine and Kobe white and of course we all remember what the start

Of the season was like the Bulls were off to some of their best basketball we had seen since the early D Rose years and were looking like they were right on their way to becoming contenders in the near future with everything clicking for this team and being well balanced welld

Designed of a roster until it wasn’t and this was mainly exasperated by the injury to Lonzo ball and then later on Alex Caruso and despite dear having a career season even his heroics eventually wouldn’t be able to bring this team to what we saw at the start of

The season and the Bulls would fall dramatically in the standings going from being to the top of the East to finishing Sixth and getting beaten badly in the first round to the Milwaukee Bucks but here’s the thing even though you knew that the Bulls had a disappointing finish to their season you

Knew that there was still a sense of hope with Lonzo ball presumably coming back The Following Season hoping to see progress from some of their younger guys like like Patrick Williams Kobe white and aumu and hopefully hopefully the Bulls would make additional free agency signings or trades to further bolster

The roster because it was still clear that even if Lonzo came back healthy this team still had issues and weaknesses they needed to work out but ever since then since the end of that season the Bulls have made one trade just one to trade into the draft to get

Julian Phillips and have made minimal free agency signings in that time frame now it was pretty clear going into this season even from the start of me day that this was it this was the last chance for this core to figure things out the players knew it the fans knew it

We knew that if we saw more of the same thing from the last two seasons there is no way the front office could conceivably keep this thing together and try to write out this wave of continuity and just hope that the team flips the switch and starts playing like we saw at

The beginning of the 2021 season and when we saw just how bad this team looked to start this year still struggling from the same problems we’ve been talking about for over a year now lack of shooting lack of a ball movement slow pace heavy halfcourt ISO style

Offense we said okay this is it we’re finally going to see some changes and early on we had that hope of it happening with Zack LaVine wanting to be traded we thought okay Zach’s going to be getting moved this likely will be a trickle down effect of the Bulls blowing

It up and going full rebuild by trading vuvi dear and Al Caruso and embracing the youth movement but then what happened Zach gets injured the bulls turn things around and seemingly start winning without him Zach’s trade value gets hit massively when there were already questions about his impact on

Winnington now his team looking like a completely different Squad with him being out and of course now they’re being questions about his health so we went from a situation of well Zach wanting out isn’t the worst thing because we already weren’t winning with him if anything we’ll be able to get a

Solid return for him and we’ll finally end this godforsaken era of Bulls basketball that we see before us today we went from that to then saying well this sucks teams aren’t interested in Zack LaVine there isn’t a market for him to the point where we started thinking

Hell the Bulls might end up just having to move LaVine in a salary dump and take on expiring deals just to free up that cap space to now with the news of Zach missing the rest of the season we’re in a situation where it’s more than likely

Zack LaVine is not going to be traded at the deadline and the Bulls in addition to Lonzo ball are sitting with $60 million of dead money on their books for players who will not be suiting up for the team for the rest of the season but

This is what is the most concerning as it relates to the Bulls future and where they take things from here because for all intents and purposes we’re going to assume the Bulls aren’t going to be trading LaVine between now and the deadline on Thursday I’m even going to

Go as far as to say the Bulls aren’t going to be making any moves by the time we pass the deadline maybe some small moves like trading Drummond or maybe Tory Craig but that’s about it so you go into the offseason still with the same core dear Zach and V and while normally

You would say well okay if nothing happens at the deadline this is the Bulls opportunity to make big changes in the off season here’s the problem though and we briefly talked about this in a recent video in discussing the bull salary cap situation going into next

Season but the Bulls as of right now have a little over $130 million guaranteed on their books for next season really it’s more like 125 because of partial guarantees and a team option for Dal Terry but more or less you’re looking at $125 to $130 million committed the salary cap next season is

Projected to be 141 million with the tax line being 172 million which we’ll call a hard cap for the Bulls because the Bulls never go into the luxury tax now at 130 million that effectively leaves the bulls with just $1 million before hitting the cap and $42 million at their

Hard cap the most the front office is going to be allowed to spend but the $130 million guarantee next season doesn’t factor in two key players who are set to become free agents Patrick Williams restricted and Demar de Rosen unrestricted I mentioned this before but whatever you I mentioned this before but wherever

You stand on the Patrick Williams love haate Spectrum he’s going to be getting paid whether it’s by the Bulls or some other team he’s likely going to be getting something in the range of $18 to $20 million a year because of his two-way ability and potential and the

Bulls are going to have the ability to match any offer sheet he receives now depending on the most recent injury to Pat and how long he’ll be out for that could impact the kind of deal that he gets if there are concerns about his long-term Health but regardless you have

To come up with money for Pat on top of the $130 million already committed and then dear I mentioned this before as well this is going to be his one last final big payday before he retires he’s still playing well he’s still a strong enough offensive player and if you’re

Getting Pat at $20 million the max you’re going to be able to pay dear is $22 million per year before hitting the tax line and that doesn’t even include filling out the rest of the roster spots because Drummond is going to be a free agent you wouldn’t be able to keep him

At that point this likely means Terry Taylor is gone who was on a non-g guaranteed deal for next season I mean for drumond and Taylor it’s a bit inconsequential but the point here is more so the fact that if you’re using your remaining cap space on resigning

Pat and dear that’s it you can’t make any additional roster moves to effectively break this cycle of continuity and the other thing I don’t think a lot of people understand is you hear a lot of people saying well just don’t resign tomorrow or Patrick Williams easy then you free up $42

Million worth of space to sign other free agents to round out the roster the problem is by letting Pat and dear walk you lose their bird rights you can’t go over the cap to sign free agents from other teams outright unless it’s via a signing trade and so the Bulls in this

Instance would only have $1 million in cap space to sign other free agents if they don’t resign Pat andar that’s it you’re talking one maybe two mid-level type players that’s not moving the needle for you or changing anything as it relates to continuity or mediocrity this is why trading Zach for expiring

Contracts was so critical because it removes 40 plus million off your cap sheet for the next three seasons and would give the Bulls so much more flexibility in still resigning and retaining Patrick Williams also signing other players or making trades for other prospects who might be soon up for a

Payday and the bulls actually having money to be able to afford them and with the bulls more than likely not being able to trade Zach at this point they find themselves in a situation where they’re kind of stuck now here’s the only way that I see out of the Bulls

Being in this Perpetual state of mediocrity and continuity and so much of it hinges on Lonzo ball either one Lonzo ball miraculously comes back healthy and is just as good as he was before which gives the Bulls a new look a more cohesive team on offense with a smart

Savvy great Court Vision level point guard or the other way Lonzo doesn’t make the progress in his recovery that we were hoping for and the Bulls apply for medical retirement deeming the injury career ending and they’re able to wipe his entire $21 million off of their

Books clearing the way to give the Bulls enough meaningful space to sign another highquality free agent or two that really would change everything in terms of finally ending the cycle of mediocrity because if the Bulls are able to do that they no longer find themselves in a situation where they

Feel like they have to resign toar because they won’t be getting a ton of cap Relief by not resigning him given how close they are to the cap anyway in other words effectively a bird rights trap with Demar D rozan they wipe Lonzo salby off the books they let Demar walk

Now you’re in a situation where you actually have considerable cap space and flexibility you move on from dear maybe you look to trade vvi for cap relief given he’ll only have two more years left on his deal at that time and then finally finally you end this era of

Bulls basket and you start focusing and prioritizing the development of your young guys embracing Kobe white taking the lead on this team giving IO and Pat more run letting dalen Terry develop and grow same with Julian Phillips hell whoever the Bulls draft in this upcoming

Draft in 2024 which could end up being a lottery pick getting off lonzo’s contract is sort of that first step in the process of getting out of this NeverEnding state of continuity that the front office continues to try and justify to themselves now of course the other approach is the bulls actually do

The Unthinkable and tear this thing down they movar and Caruso at the deadline their two most valuable assets at this point maybe they even try and trade vuvi as a loss if it means getting out of his contract you know they figure out what to do with Zach at a later time either

During the off season or at the next Trad deadline after he comes back healthy and hopefully UPS his trade value a bit that would really be the quickest way to Pivot and go in another direction or at least actually picking a Direction but I think this scenario is

Very unlikely the Bulls haven’t given any indic they’re even willing to trade Alex Cru or demard de Rosen they love both of those guys and they value their leadership and professionalism and their highle play on the court I can’t see a scenario in which either of them is

Moved to a different team in the next couple of days I think the most likely scenario and the answer to the question of where do the Bulls go from here is the season plays out with this core they make the play in maybe squeak into the

Playoffs they get off the final year of lonzo’s contract they don’t resign Demar as a result of it because of the cap flexibility they’ve been able to for themselves and no longer are put into a situation of a bird rights trap where they feel like they have to resign tomor

Things trickle down from there and we finally see an end to this era of Bulls basketball and begin a new day a new chapter just my thoughts though let me know what you guys think as always be sure to subscribe and I will see you guys in the next one

Discussing where the Bulls go after learning Zach Lavine will be out for the season

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