Bulls Takeaways from 2024 NBA Trade Deadline 1 Week Later
Last week's NBA trade deadline offered the Chicago Bulls the chance to choose a direction.
They declined that opportunity and wound up doing nothing at the deadline for the third consecutive year.
It was, frankly, a baffling decision from a franchise that has made its share of them in recent years, none of which have included either championship hopes or early draft picks.
The Bulls are stuck in the middle and apparently fine with that.
Their Inactivity Was Unforgivable
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Blowing up this roster felt overdue already, but this was perhaps the perfect time to do it. The number of eager buyers towered over the amount of willing sellers, allowing those sellers to set high asking prices and have some hope of receiving offers in that range.
Had the Bulls been willing to move Alex Caruso, they could've collected a small fortune. He's a role player who fits with anyone, and he's cheap enough for contenders to fit on their payroll. Chicago probably could've collected a decent haul for DeMar DeRozan, too, since he's far more accomplished on the offensive end than anyone who actually changed jerseys at the deadline.
Opportunity was loudly knocking, yet Chicago ignored it.
"We would take a step back, which we don't want," Bulls vice president Artūras Karnišovas told reporters. "We want to say competitive. We have an obligation to this city to stay competitive and compete for the playoffs."
Competitive, to be clear, is a relative term. The Bulls have a losing record (26-29) and no shot at making any playoff noise—assuming they even escape the play-in tournament, which is not at all a given. This is a rebuilding team that doesn't know it's a rebuilding team.
They'll Probably Make the Play-In Tournament
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If the Bulls see a play-in tournament invitation as a successful season, then they're in luck. They'd have to bottom out in a brutal way not to collect one upon this campaign's completion.
Chicago is the ninth seed right now. It has a 4.5 game cushion on the 11th-seeded Brooklyn Nets and a seven-game edge on the 12th-seeded Toronto Raptors. Those clubs have gone a combined 7-13 over their last 10 outings.
The Bulls are good enough to not fall flat on their faces. DeRozan is a really skilled offensive player. Caruso is an invaluable two-way connector. Coby White is a rising star (more on him in a minute). Nikola Vučević is rock-solid. The supporting cast isn't short on usable role players.
This is a decent roster. The goal, of course, should be creating something much better than decent, which is why it's baffling to see the ongoing commitment to this core. But they're good enough to lock down a play-in spot, for whatever that's worth.
Coby White Is Clearly Their Centerpiece
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Chicago's season has been largely absent of silver linings, but White's ascension is the most obvious ascension.
While this franchise was busy waiting on Patrick Williams to emerge as its primary building block, White forced his way into centerpiece status with a breakout effort that should see him factor heavily in the Most Improved Player award race.
White, the No. 7 pick in 2019, had previously popped as an instant-offense scoring guard, but there were legitimate questions of whether that's all he'd ever be. Developments as a defender and distributor silenced that skepticism, while he also improved that go-to scoring strength by upping his efficiency.
He won't turn 25 until next year, so his best basketball is still ahead of him. He should clearly be the focal point of the Bulls' next chapter—whenever they decide to start writing it.
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