Bulls' Top Needs in 2024 NBA Offseason
The Chicago Bulls haven't been a particularly interesting team to watch these past few seasons.
They should be worth monitoring during the 2024 NBA offseason, though.
This will be the latest will-they-or-won't-they moment for the franchise to decide whether it wants to keep pushing forward with this same nucleus or if it's time to heed the external advice from all of those calling for Chicago to tear it down and start over.
It's a little challenging to make big-picture recommendations without knowing for sure what the Bulls want to do, but let's try identifying their three top needs, anyway.
A Clear Focus for This Franchise
1 of 3
You could argue Chicago's direction is already established. You could also look at its recent results and hope like heck that isn't the case.
The Bulls have said mediocrity won't be tolerated. And they've largely played mediocre basketball ever since.
They had some early juice with this group before Lonzo Ball hurt his knee, but that injury was basically two-and-a-half years ago. That can't be the main motivation to believe things will turn around.
But this team hasn't had a winning record or a playoff spot in either of the past two seasons, so what exactly is the plan here? That simply cannot be a question people are still pondering coming out of this offseason. The free-agency adventures of DeMar DeRozan and Patrick Williams could be hugely revealing on that front.
Shooting
2 of 3
The Bulls seemingly leaned heavily onto the offensive end when they pinned their hopes to the trio of DeRozan, Zach LaVine and Nikola Vučević. Then, they watched Coby White take silver in the Most Improved Player voting largely on the strength of his offensive ascension.
And yet, this offense has been totally underwhelming. The Bulls landed just 19th in efficiency on the game's glamour end this season, per NBA.com, and that was actually an improvement from last season.
There are different factors behind this inefficiency, but one that's both obvious and hard to overcome is a general lack of shooting.
Few Bulls attempt threes at a high volume—White and LaVine were the only ones with five-plus attempts per game—and not enough convert them at a high clip. Vučević's regression in this department (40 percent in 2020-21, 32 since) has been an absolute space-killer for a team that didn't have a ton of breathing room to begin with.
A Zach LaVine Trade
3 of 3
If LaVine's trade value isn't at rock bottom after another injury-impacted season, it's at least residing in the same zip code.
And that doesn't change the fact he more or less has to go this offseason.
That's more or less coming directly from the Bulls, too. For all of the big-ticket items on their summer to-do list, a LaVine trade "remains priority one, two and three this summer," a team source told Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times.
The Bulls can't expect much of a return for LaVine, but that almost doesn't matter. Getting out from under his colossal contract would make it easier for this front office to navigate. Not to mention, subtracting him from the team would ensure the runway stays clear for White's continued ascension.
.jpg?w=600 "Colts Release Kenny Moore")
