All Signs Point to a Rebuild for the Chicago Bulls

All Signs Point to a Rebuild for the Chicago Bulls

so the NBA draft is in the books pretty uneventful second round for the Bulls anyway I’m a little surprised that we didn’t see a single trade coming from the Bulls at any point in the draft I actually thought the Bulls were going to be a little more active on the trade front during the draft but there have been some trade Rumblings of the Bulls looking to move Nicola vuich in recent days which good luck with that and of course the Bulls are still looking to trade Zack LaVine that of course has been ongoing and also what’s next for D rozan who is set to become an unrestricted free agent on Sunday if the Bulls and DeMar don’t reach an agreement on an extension but with the draft now concluded we’re just a couple of days away from the start of free agency I wanted to discuss the million dollar question that’s going on for the Bulls right now is what is the direction of this franchise in going into next season are they now setting up to go into a rebuild or take a step back and focusing on a youth movement or are they just making some moves here and there and still looking to try and compete and get to the playoffs well based on what has transpired in the past week or so as well as some of the remarks from AK after day one of the draft we can draw some conclusions on what the future of this franchise is going to look like and we’ll talk about it further in this video so what’s going on everyone you’re listening to Bull Central here hope you’re all doing well now a quick shout out to the sponsor of this video Underdog fantasy just because the NBA season is over it does not mean that you can’t partake in fantasy sports Drafting and pick thems between baseball WNBA games golf UFC all of it Underdog fantasy is a super easy userfriendly platform and if you use the code bull Central they’re going to give you up to $250 in bonus cash as well as a free pick in the lobby once you sign up so check it out I’ll leave a link to the site and the code in the description and ping comment if you guys are interested also guys a big shout out and thank you to all of you for getting the channel to 40,000 subscribers it means so much to me for a guy who is just a big time Bulls fan like you all and thought that he would start sharing his thoughts about the team on YouTube and to see where it’s gotten to now could not have been done without you guys and your support so really appreciate it and hey now the road to 50K begins but anyway now of course something we’ve been talking about for over a year now dating all the way back to last season is that the Bulls this team simply put does not work they have hit their ceiling as currently constructed yeah it was great seeing how well they played and everything was working in those first 35 games or whatever it was before Lonzo ball got injured but Clinging On to this idea that somehow they’re going to be able to bring that back when it’s very possible Lonzo won’t be able to play again or if he does he will not be the same player but also the fact that your core guys that you were building with in that 2021 season between dear Vu and LaVine are all now 3 years older we’ve seen what this team can do they’re a playing team at best and so going into this off season knowing that this was the third go around in this iteration of the roster we knew that this was likely the last chance for this group to figure things out going into this next season the players themselves even said as much during media day before the start of the season and when the Bulls more or less repeated what they did from last year a play in team that couldn’t make the playoffs the time for change was now and Uris caros chovis even acknowledged and admitted that at his end of season press conference that he recognized the need for Change and that that time was now now up until that point it was the first time publicly AK conceded to defeat that this roster that he put together had failed but acknowledging change in the form of a rebuild was not something he was willing to admit in fact he even said he wanted to see this team win 10 more games and a goal of making the playoffs that’s the opposite of taking a step back and rebuilding and still trying to be competitive but after ak’s comments on the night of the draft things have fundamentally shifted with the approach that he’s taking with this roster he may not publicly have said that the Bulls are about to embark on a rebuild but reading between the lines when you look at the trade they made for Josh Giddy and selecting Matas pelis a 19-year-old project player versus some of the prospects who were more NBA ready and it’s pretty clear that the Bulls are about to commence yet another rebuild and really this all hinges on one thing and it’s something we’re going to find out in a matter of days if not already by the time you’re listening to this and that’s the future of Demar D roen with this organization now up until draft night the belief around the organization was that the Bulls wanted to keep dear on this roster that it was their priority and desire to get him to stay and sign him to an extension even leading up to the end of the season when the Press had talked to Dear he himself had expressed a desire to remain with the team and was almost acknowledging that one way or another they were going to be able to get a deal done he looked like a guy who knew that he was going to be getting an extension with the bulls and throughout this time since the end of the season and talking about the Bulls and their cap sheet on this channel trade options and what the roster would look like going into next season it was always with the assumption that Demar was going to be here but when AK was asked about dear’s impending free agency and whether they’ll actually still look to want to resign him AK shifted his tone saying that they’re going to look at everything everything is on the table and that is an option as well now you guys know me I’ve said this before I still think there is value in having a Savvy veteran leader who can guide and Mentor your young players even in a rebuild we saw how the Bulls previous rebuild went with Markin and wend Carter Jr Zach and Kobe white they all really lacked that despite their talent they simply could not close games because they didn’t have veteran leadership and so I do think there is something to be said about still having dear on the roster as that player who can help Elevate and develop the young core same with a guy like Alex guso but the problem the Bulls find themselves in is that even if they wanted dear to take on that role in a rebuild the financials just don’t work for the Bulls to be able to resign him and have the team still remain under the luxury tax now I’ve explained the bull salary cap situation and why they would be so hardpressed to keep a player like dear in Prior videos so I won’t reiterate that here but in short the Bulls are already an over the cap team a team that only has so much space between where they are before they hit that tax line and that doesn’t even include potential extend exensions for Patrick Williams and dear Rosen reigning those guys even to their market value would put them over the tax assuming all the other things remained equal so even if dear wanted to stay and the Bulls wanted him to take on that role as the veteran leader to help the young guys develop it’s going to be so challenging to do so given their cap constraints and so I find it increasingly more likely especially after the kuus so trade and the drafting of buellis that dear has played his last game with the bulls that he’ll either leave and agency and the Bulls let him walk for nothing or they execute a sign trade of some kind and if dear is gone that’s it the Bulls are in a full blown rebuild because that drastically lowers the floor of this team if they don’t have dear which puts them in a much better position to keep their pick in 2025 that is top 10 protected yeah they would still have Zack LaVine and vvi but if dear walks they’re going to be even more motivated to move both of those guys even if it means selling them for pennies on the dollar and look even knowing that the Bulls quote unquote mid is still in the roster at this point in time it’s pretty clear they’re already making the shift to a younger core when you look at the fact that they now have a 21-year-old presumably starting point guard you drafted a 19-year-old big man that isn’t quite NBA ready but has a ton of upside with his positional size ball handling passing and shot blocking they have their two young budding guards who both had breakout Seasons last year and Kobe and IA who are both only 24 years old Patrick Williams who I still maintain they’re going to resign whether it be before free agency begins or matching any offer sheet he gets dalen Terry Julian Phillips like it doesn’t take a basketball genius to see that the Bulls are already assembling a young core to build with for the future and I think what was most telling about ak’s comments after the draft aside from his change in tone on resigning toar was actually his opening remarks where he referenced back to his comments at the end of the season that they needed to make changes and then said quote and we have started that process while I cannot speak to all the potential changes it’s hard to predict what we might look like in a week or two in my view that’s AK saying yeah this rebuild is eminent I just can’t say it right now because free agency hasn’t opened yet obviously with free agency comes the potential of further trades as movement of players pick up throughout the league in those first days of free agency or of course sign in trades which could potentially have already been worked out and agreed upon but they obviously can’t make that information public since that would be considered tampering until free agency over opens throughout the NBA now AK did say in his press conference that the direction of the team would not be dictated by trying to keep their pick in 2025 but honestly I don’t believe that first he’s not going to openly say yeah we’re going to intentionally tank to try and keep that pick as he doesn’t want to get in trouble by the league and he’s also not going to say that now when he still has these older veterans on his roster who probably don’t want to hear that this team’s goal is to start losing next year in the event he’s not able to trade one of them so look while AK might not be able to openly say it yet and this will all become clear by next week based on the moves they’ve made thus far and the increasing number of young guys on this roster all signs are pointing to the Bulls going in the direction of a rebuild which I’m sure is music to a lot of bulls fans ears as we really have had to endorse some painful basketball over the last two and a half Seasons we’ll find out soon enough though it’s going to make for an interesting weekend with free agency opening up on Sunday evening I’ll obviously keep you guys posted as free agency kicks off in any news or updates with the team in the meantime though as always be sure to subscribe and I will see you guys in the next one

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Discussing what the direction will be for the Chicago Bulls and why a rebuild is imminent heading into free agency

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