Bulls fans who had waited years for this inevitable rebuild must have their imaginations running wild over what the future might hold for young forwards Caleb Wilson and Matas Buzelis.
But shouldn’t there be more to look forward to? Especially when the short-term outlook appears so rough?
Even if Chicago sees building-block potential in all three of Josh Giddey, Noa Essengue and Dailyn Swain—and there are reasons to question each one—that’s still a pretty shallow young core for a rebuilder.
This deal might go a long way toward deepening it. Podziemski, 23, has already popped as a complementary scorer, shooter and creator with flashes of becoming even more. Moody, 24, is a willing and able wing defender who made better than 40 percent from three on better than six attempts a night last season.
Throw in that future first—plus Porziņģis as a money-matcher with little guaranteed beyond this season—and this feels like the exact kind of package Chicago was hoping to get back when it surprisingly signed Powell, whose timeline misaligns with this team’s by a mile.
If the Bulls guessed right on Podziemski as a long-term keeper, they might already have the backcourt component needed to complement their frontcourt. There are, admittedly, loads of defensive concerns with a Giddey-Podziemski guard tandem, but their combined scoring potency and playmaking capabilities could simplify quite a bit for Wilson and Buzelis.
Now, that could realistically comprise 80 percent of a long-term starting five, and Chicago would still have Swain, Essengue and Moody on the second unit. That reads a lot more like a rebuilder’s young nucleus, and that’s before factoring in whatever the Bulls might find in their upcoming drafts.
And who knows, maybe Chicago could get really lucky and have Porziņģis heal up in time to emerge as a deadline target for a desperate shopper? That would only add to what already feels like a strong haul for a 33-year-old one-time All-Star and a 26-year-old backup big.