2024-25 Team Developments: Trades / Free Agents / News / Rumors / Ideas

Makes a ton of sense for them. They have LeVert 16mil expiring and can add Wade or Niang. They only have 1 FRP though, but being so far ahead, can be an interesting one from a small market team.

They get a tight 6 man rotation of Allen, Mobley, Cam, Mitchell, Garland and Strus. With Okoro, Jerome, Merrill and Niang/Wade behind.

 

All eyes on Chicago by Feb 6th?

Bulls in a familiar place of mediocrity as they reach the NBA halfway point

CHICAGO — After another sloppy loss that marked the halfway point of another aimless season, the Chicago Bulls held another team meeting.

Starting center Nikola Vučević commanded his teammates’ attention inside the locker room this time. The injury-ravaged Atlanta Hawks had strolled into the United Center and bullied Chicago with a 110-94 win Wednesday.

Everything about the game encapsulated the Bulls’ disjointed first half of the season. We saw careless turnovers — 20 that led to 22 Hawks points — as well as errant shooting (Chicago missed 21 of 27 3-point tries) and shoddy defensive rebounding that gave Atlanta 27 second-chance points.

“We focus on the wrong things,” Vučević said. “We have to understand that it’s the details that make the difference at this level.”

Vučević was referring to the team’s lack of attention to detail on the court, but he could have easily been describing any number of departments throughout the organization. Given this franchise’s extensive recent struggles, it’s impossible to see Chicago’s solutions being solely performance-based.

Nothing that Vučević said following Wednesday’s defeat sounded different from previous postgame tongue-lashings. In past seasons, the Bulls’ stars, such as DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine, led the way. At times, role players like Goran Dragić and Patrick Beverley delivered the same impassioned pleas during their short stints on the roster.

The Bulls (18-23) just missed having the same record after 41 games for the fourth time in five seasons. They were 19-22 at this juncture in three of the previous four seasons.

It doesn’t matter who’s on the roster, what style the Bulls play, how many players speak out or how many have checked out: The Bulls can’t escape mediocrity.

“I don’t view it that way when you’re in the moment,” Bulls coach Billy Donovan said of being stuck in the middle. “You’re just talking about competing and just coaching and these guys playing.”

And so it goes for the Bulls, who are on a collision course for the Play-In Tournament for the third-straight season. They’re in 10th place in the Eastern Conference standings, four games behind the Indiana Pacers for sixth. The Bulls made the Play-In as the ninth seed in each of the previous two seasons.

“The goal is to win,” Donovan said Wednesday.

Basketball purists will appreciate the organization’s principles. There’s another segment of forward-thinking fans who are tired of watching a once-proud franchise serve as a perennial punching bag — and they’re not wrong for seeing little value in another trip to the Play-in Tournament.

Those fans don’t crave trivial wins but want someone in Chicago to step up and demonstrate a long-term vision. They want someone, be it from the sidelines or the executive suite, who isn’t afraid to boldly guide this franchise in a clear direction. Player meetings and rah-rah speeches are temporary fixes, not permanent solutions.


The Bulls are 18-23 in the first half of this season under Billy Donovan. They were 19-22 at this time in three of the previous four seasons. (Kamil Krzaczynski / Imagn Images)
For the Bulls, this second half is about more than whether they’ll be mediocre and miss the playoffs again. The significance of the final 41 games stretches into the long-term health and stability of the franchise.

In the backdrop of this stretch run — or at least what should be — is the big picture: The Bulls owe their first-round pick this year to the San Antonio Spurs if the selection falls out of the top 10.

Chicago currently owns the league’s ninth-worst record, yet has shown no urgency to part with its most talented players via the trade market. With three weeks remaining until the trading deadline, questions are beginning to swirl around the Bulls of whether the franchise will be active at all. Chicago hasn’t made a deadline deal in the past three seasons, opting instead for a stale status quo.

This year feels different because of its significance. Everyone can see Chicago has a low ceiling that is well below championship contention. Without a collection of stars, or the means to attract them, the Bulls will continue riding the hamster wheel. Feel-good wins may provide entertainment and might placate the purists, but they’ll also keep the Bulls stuck in this endless pattern of frustration.

If ever there was a time for the front office to demonstrate a one-step-backward, two-steps-forward approach, this is that time. They turned down previous opportunities to sell high on desirable players like DeRozan and Alex Caruso, only to receive less compensation than they could have had they traded them earlier. The reward for their commitment to continuity was one playoff win — a game, not a series — in 2022.

Now comes the biggest test for the Bulls, one that, again, has nothing to do with what happens on the court. Executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas promised at the start of the season that the Bulls weren’t done rebuilding. With only 11 games remaining before the deadline, the Bulls don’t have much time left to deliberate.

LaVine, Vučević and Coby White are Chicago’s most attractive assets. There are no untouchable players on the roster, but the Bulls have been reluctant to move their best players. They’ve flat-out rejected the notion of attaching additional assets to move on from players. It’s a stance that has made the Bulls impossible trade partners.

But now they must get off the fence. The next five years of Chicago Bulls basketball are hanging in the balance.

We know what the future looks like if they do nothing.

 

all season long? this has been the case for years now

 

It is just another proof
Available vs. Los Angeles
January 16, 2025
Russell (shin/hamstring) has been cleared to play in Friday's game against the Lakers, Erik Slater of ClutchPoints.com reports.

After missing five of the last six games for the Nets, Russell has been cleared to return to play Friday.

 

he's not actually hurt. they just sat him for tanking purposes and there was no way they weren't going to let him play his revenge game

 

I can see it now. Cavs win finish with like 66 wins but lose to the C Bags in the playoffs again. We make minor moves before the deadline at most and lose in the first or second round. LeBron goes back to Cleveland this summer for one last season/chance at a ring.

 

I hope he goes for 30, but we win.
I have zero Ill will towards him.
I hope he can find happiness on the court for his remaining seasons in the League.

 

It's pretty simple...Folks don't want to miss an opportunity to beat Lebron before he retires. Nobody gave a s*** about playing the Lakers, for years before Lebron signed.

 

You knew there was no way he was missing his revenge/ video tribute game

 

He's actually hurt maybe not serious.Last season some were complaining that they are just sitting to collect money and NBA change rules in that regard,especially if game on national TV

 

It's the price to pay for being the biggest brand. Everyone watches the Lakers, most are nationally televised, it's Bron's final years...many reasons why. I get it, if I'm a player and have to sit games, I rather play against the Lakers and miss any other game.
The players are still people. Just sharing the court with Bron one time is a story you tell in every Xmas party

 

i'd argue that some of our overperformance in the postseason is because not matter what our record is, we get teams' best shot every night. boston's been complaining about this year, and i'm like, buddy, we live here.

anyway, if chicago is willing to move white with vuc to us, i'm willing to throw in a lightly protected first. salaries are a little tricky, though, as rui/gabe/jhs falls juuuuust short of what we'd need to make it happen.

 

What I would give for a real good backup point guard right now like a Gary Payton II or a Scotty Pippen Jr…too bad we are not lucky like GSW and Griz

 

yeah, but then it’s 4 for 2 and even 3 for 2 means Chicago has to waive someone.

 

Well, I'm a total night owl and will try to get some sleep after Utah kept Kessler (and Clarkson, Collins, Porter, Markkanen and Juzang) out for various..."reasons"...just before the game vs. Pels (which Utah lost, 136-123), you have to believe that by tomorrow Kessler is gone. To us? I don't know. Neither do you.

My guess: Knicks. But I'll try not to keep looking at the trade wire stuff.

 

Ja Morant missed the 18th game of the season and no longer eligible for individual NBA awards