I Want the Bulls to Be Good
/
I don't know that I have seen such a mediocre fall off in the past decade when I look at the Chicago Bulls. Let’s discuss.
When I was a kid the Bulls were the best. They had Jordan and Pippen and Phil Jackson and they were winning titles left and right. Jordan is the greatest, Pippen was the perfect Robin and Jackson is one of the best coaches of all time. They were able to bring in great complimentary pieces, like Dennis Rodman and Ron Harper. They drafted properly with guys like Luc Longley and Steve Kerr. They were in on the international players before it was a big thing. But the most important thing, and I will say this until the cows come home, they drafted Michael Jordan and kept him through his prime.
The Bulls were the definition of a dynasty. They had some down years until they drafted Derrick Rose, who made them relevant again. They had some nice runs with Rose, but then his knee exploded and that was when this team became the best at being mediocre. They have gone through any number of players to try and make themselves a viable playoff threat. They traded for Nikola Vucevic when he was still a borderline all star. But he never really lived up to the hype as a stretch big man. He would have one of two good games a month, then revert to being average. They got Zach Lavine when he was angry with Minnesota. This seemed like a good move at the time, but Lavine is just an empty stats guy. He can fill up the scoresheet, but it never amounted to many wins. They went out and signed DeMar DeRozan, who is one of the better midrange offensive players in the game, but he doesn't play a ton of defense, and if we learned anything from his trade from the Raptors to the Spurs, teams seemed to get better when he was not on them. They traded for Alex Caruso, or maybe signed him, I don't remember. Caruso is only good when he is on a contending team and he has to guard multiple guys. He has never been a scoring threat and he never will be. That doesn't suit his skill set. I liked when they drafted Coby White, who had his moments, but he never lived up to the lottery selection he was, and now he is gone. They gave Patrick Williams a big deal when he hadn't really proved much of anything. And they seem to be whiffing on their most recent draft picks. All of this kept this team in the play-in race, but they never made it out, or if they did, they were an easy first round out. Billy Donovan is a solid coach, but he has never been given a real chance to win big in Chicago. Every time he shows some stability, and the Bulls get their head above water, they trade guys or force him to play players he may not want on the floor. They let go of Caruso so they could build a team around Josh Giddey. Giddey is okay, but he is not a number one option that you can win a title with. Plus, he has had some questionable off court issues in his past. They let Ayo Donsunmu go. Matas Buzelis hasn't been able to put together a month's worth of solid play. Jalen Smith is a fine backup center. He starts for the Bulls. They now have three of the exact same player in guards Anfernee Simons, Rob Dillingham and Jaden Ivey, all of whom they traded for. Simons can score and do not much else. Dillingham is wildly unproven and Ivey has been very up and down his whole career. And he tends to be injury prone. They also added Collin Sexton, who I like, but he cannot seem to stick with one team any longer than one or two seasons.
I don't know what game the Bulls are playing, but they, and by they I mean the front office, don't seem to truly know what they are doing. They are taking some of the oddest swings I have seen in a long time. They are too far in to tank, and their record, especially in the Eastern Conference, is on par with being in the play-in once again. The roster construction and team building makes zero sense and the powers that be seem to be more than thrilled to stay in this weird mediocrity they have set for themselves. I like the NBA much more when the Bulls are relevant. At this moment, and for the past decade, the Bulls have been wildly irrelevant. And that bums me out.
Ty
Ty is the Pop Culture editor for SeedSing, the other host of the X Millennial Man Podcast, and the greatest basketball writer on the internet.