Alex Caruso is gone. Now DeMar DeRozan is gone. This is the clearest signal that the Chicago Bulls have sent in a long time, indicating that they are going in a new direction. Arturas Karnisovas never saw his grand plan come together because of the catastrophic Lonzo Ball injury. Without his guidance at point guard, things never seemed to click as intended. The organization held out hope that he might return, but it never happened. His career may be over. Karnisovas has finally charted the Bulls in a new direction, which screams rebuild.
The big question is what comes next. DeRozan’s sign-and-trade netted them a backup guard and two 2nd round picks. None of that helps them this upcoming season. Are there more moves coming? Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times says yes, but they aren’t the ones intended to keep the team competitive. He confirmed what has been speculated for weeks. The Bulls have two more prominent veterans left on the roster, and they would like to ship both of them out in the not-so-distant future.
“The deal pushes forward the youth movement by Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas, who already had moved on from Alex Caruso before the start of free agency last week.
That doesn’t mean his work is done. The Bulls continue to shop Zach LaVine aggressively and have been looking for a new home for Nikola Vucevic.”
That is to say, they need to protect their 1st round pick next year. Currently, the rights belong to the San Antonio Spurs. The only way that changes is if the Bulls secure a top-10 selection in the lottery, in which case it reverts to them. That meant one thing: downgrading the roster to a point where they should finish with a bad enough record. Is it tanking? Sure, but sometimes, an organization has no choice. The Bulls were stuck in the mud for the past two years. With no upward mobility in sight, there was only one other way to go.
As things stand, the most likely next domino to fall will be Vucevic. He’s healthy and showed last year he is still a quality offensive and rebounding presence. Some teams will see the value of acquiring him. It comes down to finding the necessary cap space and a trade package the Chicago Bulls would be happy with. Lavine is the much bigger challenge. His large contract and current injury recovery make him a difficult piece to move. Karnisovas has two choices. He either must get creative with a trade involving multiple other teams, or he must bite the bullet and let Lavine return in hopes he plays well enough for Chicago to move him at the deadline.
Neither is appetizing.
