DeMar DeRozan: People Saying Bulls Need to Rebuild 'Don't Understand Basketball'

Chicago Bulls star DeMar DeRozan hit back at the notion that the franchise should start to rebuild rather than chase what some believe to be limited short-term returns.

"I think a lot of people who say that or suggest that really don't understand basketball at all, in my opinion," he told Sportskeeda's Mark Medina. "You can think that's an answer or that's a route. But there's no telling how long that route is going to even last. That route doesn't necessarily always work in a timely fashion that you may think it will take."

DeRozan offers a salient point in that the promised gains of a prolonged rebuild are never guaranteed to materialize.

The Philadelphia 76ers are a prime example.

The organization pushed tanking to an extreme under Sam Hinkie, and a succession of high lottery picks that turned into Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz was a sign "The Process" was working. And yet, five trips to the Eastern Conference semifinals is the extent of the Sixers' success after four years of complete futility.

In the case of the Bulls, some fans will also have reservations about whether the current front office is equipped to handle a rebuild.

Chicago got off to a bright start with DeRozan, Zach LaVine, Lonzo Ball and Nikola Vučević in 2021-22. The extent to which the franchise has fallen off thanks to Ball's injury problems is a sign of how flimsy those current foundations actually were.

The full effects of the Vučević will linger for a while, too. Dealing away Wendell Carter Jr. and a pick that turned into Franz Wagner has backfired worse than anybody could've reasonably foreseen.

Still, starting over arguably provides a better path forward than staying on a road to nowhere, which is where the Bulls might be stuck. Ball is going to miss the entire 2023-24 season, and there weren't many offseason upgrades to a team that went 40-42.

It would be one thing if general manager Marc Eversley and executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas were moving forward with a roster that could push for a top four seed and basically had a floor of the top six.

Avoiding the play-in tournament could present a challenge to Chicago, though, and if that's as good as it's going to get, you can't blame the fanbase for wanting something more drastic.