Chicago Bulls Offseason Wishlist

As the Chicago Bulls tumultuous season has come to a close, it’s time to look ahead at what might be the most important offseason of the AKME era. The decisions made will be a defining moment, as the future direction of the organization will be decided by their choices. 

Already this offseason, a major coaching personnel change was made, as all of the assistant coaches were given a new role, or let go. Chris Fleming, who most notably took over as the interim head coach for a few games when Billy Donovan had COVID in the 2021-2022 season, was let go as the biggest decision so far. This is the kind of move that shows the front office has faith in Billy Donovan, even though he has only led the team to 1 winning season in his 4 years here. 

My number one hope for this offseason was to move on from Billy Donovan, which seems highly unlikely now. I don’t think he’s necessarily a bad coach, but it seems like this roster doesn’t suit his strengths. A move back to the NCAA seemed possible when Kentucky’s head coaching spot opened up, though Donovan never showed any serious interest in the position. Since we now know that he will be the head coach next season, here are some other things on my Wishlist for this offseason:

1. For starters, this team is desperately lacking a defensive interior presence. In an ideal world, I would draft Donovan Clingan to be the future center of the Bulls. Nikola Vucevic and Andre Drummond are both great rebounders (with Drummond being one of the greatest ever), but they severely lack as defensive anchors, especially with the lack of size on the roster (this will be addressed later). Clingan could come in and backup either Drummond or Vucevic, likely Vucevic, and become an immediate impact player for Chicago. For 3 years now, the defense has been almost entirely on the shoulders of Alex Caruso. Getting some more help, especially on the interior, would allow him to be even more aggressive defensively.
2. Demar Derozan is the biggest situation that the Bulls need to figure out right when the free agency period begins. Derozan has clearly been the Bulls best player since joining the team in the 2021-2022 season, but he’ll be 35 at the start of next season. I believe that it’s probably best for both sides if Derozan plays elsewhere this season, although I won’t be mad if he is brought back. How much he’s worth will tell me whether it is a good decision or not. Losing him for nothing wouldn’t be great, signing him for too much money would be just as bad. With Derozan as well, he commands a great deal on the offensive side of the ball. Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu saw unreal jumps this year, so maybe it’s time to let them figure it out on their own. This team is in the fine window of not being good enough to be a playoff team, but not bad enough to get a top 3-5 pick without some luck. In my eyes, Derozan has been almost too good for Chicago with his ability to be a magician in the 4th quarter and pull wins out of thin air. If a sign and trade is possible, I would take it. If he’s asking for too much money, I don’t think you can reasonably bring him back because of how old he is. If we can get a “hometown discount” for him, there’s no reason why he shouldn’t be back on the team, but I still would rather see a team centered around Coby and Ayo.
3. Nikola Vucevic, as I mentioned before, is a defensive liability. Not only that, one of his greatest strengths when we brought him in has now become one of his biggest weaknesses. His 3 point shooting ability has seemingly fallen off a cliff, and yet it still feels like it is one of the focal points of the offense. I think that the 3 year, $60 million contract looked like a good deal last offseason, but with every passing game it looks worse and worse. If there is a team that wants him, I would look to trade him in a heartbeat. Find a way to bring back Drummond and draft Clingan, and you would have a very good center rotation. If Vucevic is going to stay, Donovan needs to find a way to make him much more of a post player. The corner 3 is the only 3 point shot that Vucevic is still highly effective with, and putting him in the low post or short corner could allow him to get that look more often. He is also much better in the post and from the midrange, hopefully Donovan can take advantage of that more should Vucevic be back next season.
4. I’ve talked about 2 of the “Big 3” already, so naturally now I have to talk about Zach Lavine. Since Lavine signed his max contract extension after the 2021-2022 season, injuries have seemed to plague him. He had a stretch in the 2nd half of the 2022-2023 season where he looked excellent, and was the reason we even made the Play-In Tournament in my opinion. Outside of his 51 point outburst in a shocking loss to the Pistons early on in the season, he struggled shooting the ball. A myriad of injuries, including the surgery he had last offseason, never gave him the chance to get into a rhythm. Trade rumors were rampant with Lavine, as it was a virtual guarantee that he would be with a new team at the deadline. The injury bug, as well as the media, looked like they severely tanked his value, as Lavine opted for a season ending surgery a week before the trade deadline. My hope for Zach this season is for him to regain his momentum at the end of the 22/23 season, and that he can become the trade asset he was shaping up to be since the end of that season. Zach has been a great player for the city since being involved in the Jimmy Butler trade, but the writing is on the wall. When it comes to a team that is stuck like the Bulls are, it’s very rare that the players leading the charge can actually get the team out of the position. I think that all 3 of Derozan, Vucevic, and Lavine are phenomenal players. I just don’t think that they can be a part of the Bulls plans if the goal is eventually to win a championship.
5. I mentioned this earlier, but the Chicago Bulls severely lack in size. Outside of Vucevic and Drummond, Patrick Williams and Julian Phillips were the only other players to get regular minutes that were taller than 6 ‘7. Looking at the scope of the NBA now, this is not a winning strategy, as almost every contending team starts 2-3 players that are 6 ‘8 or taller. Throughout the last 3 seasons, the most common Power Forward options for Billy Donovan have been Lonzo Ball, Javonte Green, Alex Caruso, and Patrick Williams. Derrick Jones Jr. played backup center for the Bulls in the 2022-2023 season. There is a severe size issue on this roster, and it needs to be fixed. Whether via trade or via free agency, the Chicago Bulls need to look at getting bigger across the board.
6. I talked about Alex Caruso and his defensive impact for this team over the last 3 seasons, but his offense also blossomed alongside Coby and Ayo this season. He led the team in 3 point shooting percentage at a resounding 40.8% on almost 5 attempts per game. With all this being said, I think that AKME need to trade Alex Caruso. Similar to Demar, Caruso might just have TOO much value to be a part of a team that can’t even make the playoffs. There are contending teams that would pay good assets in order to get Caruso, and he’s going to cost a lot once his contract is up next season. His $9 million price tag is a steal for a player of his caliber, and it would be quite easy to attach him to either Lavine, Vucevic, or Derozan in a sign and trade in order to further enhance a potential return package. Another thing this does is it opens up the guard position even more. With Lonzo Ball expected to return next season (finally!) minutes will need to be opened up for him to play. The aforementioned evolution in both Coby and Ayo’s games has turned them from fringe starters to legit leading pieces. Dalen Terry and Julian Phillips showed flashes of what they can do, and they both impressed me with their developments throughout the season. Alex Caruso is essentially wasting his value on this team, and like Derozan, I think this is a situation where moving on will be mutually beneficial.