For many teams, the dream season would include winning an NBA title, but for the Chicago Bulls, it’s more of a pipe dream that’s so far away you can’t see it.
The Bulls are far from winning a title, as evidenced by the fact that they won 39 games last season and the roster deteriorated by losing two of its best players.
The severity of the situation will determine whether next year’s campaign will be a success or another foray into a mid-zone where no team wants to find itself repeatedly.
Related Article This Trade Proposal Could Be a Smart Bet for the Bulls This Trade Proposal Could Be a Smart Bet for the Bulls
The Bulls have been the epitome of NBA mediocrity over the past few seasons, rising to the top as a play-in team, so next year’s focus must shift to the future.
Sure, it would be great if the Bulls exceeded even the wildest expectations, made the playoffs and threatened to win the Eastern Conference, but the odds of that happening are about as good as me starting center for the Bulls next season.
The most realistic dream season would follow this narrative:
-Zach LaVine is on fire early, looks healthy and is scoring a ton of points.
-A few the other team becomes desperate due to injuries or a slow start and trading for LaVine without the Bulls having to give up draft capital or borrow long-term money to do so.
-Vucevic follows the same path.
-The Bulls are committing to the young players on their roster and letting them take the hits. It will probably be ugly at times, but increasing the reps won’t hurt guys like Matas Buzelis, who might even have a drawn for the title of rookie of the year.
-The Bulls finish the season competitively, showing some promise but mostly falling short and finishing with one of the bottom four records in the NBA.
-This not only ensures they keep their protected top-10 pick, but will also give them maximum chances of landing one of the intriguing talents at the top of next year’s draft.
-The Bulls got lucky and got the first pick and now have Cooper Flagg, Matas Buzelis, Josh Giddey, Patrick Williams, Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu to build around the plentiful cap space from the LaVine trade.
-The Bulls are moving forward with a young, promising team that doesn’t have bad long-term money.
Are all of these things likely to happen? Given the Bulls’ recent history of inaction, I’d say it’s unlikely.
But that’s what fans should hope for, because it’s the only thing that will get the Bulls out of the perpetual cycle of the play-in race, which is great for a young team on the rise, but not so much if that’s the ceiling of your roster, which it is right now.
