Things Are About to Get Interesting For the Chicago Bulls….

Things Are About to Get Interesting For the Chicago Bulls….

So, the Bulls are off to a solid start to the season. Wouldn’t say it’s been perfect by any means. It’s been very much up and down thus far. Started off the season 6 and one, then lost five straight to get to 500, and now back on track with a little mini winning streak. And while it’s still very early on in the season, only one month in. But given where the Bulls are at, currently eight and six in the standings, seventh in the Eastern Conference, I can’t help but think, what direction are the Bulls going to take as it relates to any potential inseason transactions? Of course, we’ve heard a lot of rumors and chatter about Anthony Davis, which I think is preposterous and wouldn’t make sense for the Bulls at all, especially knowing the amount the Bulls would have to give up to get him. But regardless, there are so many different avenues the Bulls could take. And it’s going to make for a very interesting trade deadline as we near closer and closer to that date in midFebruary. Why, you might ask? Well, let’s talk about it. So, what’s going on everyone? You’re listening to Bulls Central here. Hope you’re all doing well. Now, regardless of how you feel about the Bulls in their current direction, regardless of what you’ve thought about their season thus far, regardless of the fact that they’ve had a couple of bad losses, including a five-game losing streak, the Bulls sitting 8-6 to start off the season when they had one of the toughest schedules to kick off the year, coming out of their first 14 games 8-6 is still better than most people had anticipated. I mean, the overunder for the Bulls to start the season was 32 and a half, I believe it was. Most media outlets had them finishing 12th in the Eastern Conference. So, the Bulls are doing better than expected. And because they’ve been doing better than expected, because the East is wide open this season, you have to wonder what’s AK thinking. We know he’s been aggressive, albeit a little too hasty to push to win now when he first came into the front office and made that trade for Vuvich giving up two first round picks. And of course, that trade ultimately didn’t lead to much outside of one playoff appearance. And because the Bulls now finally control all their first round picks, they also still have that extra pick from Portland that’s lottery protected. and they have all of these expiring contracts, tradable expiring contracts I might add. And having all this cap flexibility going into the 2026 offseason, the Bulls can really take this in a number of different ways. They can make a win now move, a move where they trade some of their draft capital, maybe some of their young players for an established star who was maybe a bit disgruntled and looking for a change out of their team. Hell, even a superstar type of player, Giannis. Unlikely, but we can dream. or do they use their expiring contracts, most notably Tacobe and IO, and trade those off to get more future assets to build to their existing draft capital. The same can be said for guys like Kevin Herder and Zack Collins, although I doubt you’re going to be able to get much in the way of picks for those guys, but you can package them in a deal with one of Kobe or IO. Or do they just kind of go with what they have? They let their expiring deals expire and resign them where it makes sense. Revisit it alto together in the offseason based on the current landscape of the league at that time and execute any potential signing trades. I didn’t even mention Nicolvich either. I’ll be curious to see how the Bulls handle uh the Vu expiring contract, especially when he’s still playing well, still productive, but obviously doesn’t fit the Bulls timeline long term. Is there a possibility the Bulls can get some value for Vu from a contending team that believes they’re just one piece away from a title push? Now, what worries me is knowing AK, knowing that sometimes his thinking is the most rational, knowing that he’s never really been the type to tank. Hell, he even hesitates to call this whole entire thing a rebuild. We know AK is always going to be trying to win. Same with Billy Donovan. And given the fact that the Bulls are now about to embark on a stretch on their schedule, like I mentioned in last night’s video, they’re going to be playing the Wizards, Pelicans, Hornets, and Pacers. Not one of those teams has more than four wins on the season. So, we could be seeing a winning streak for this Bulls team, although you never know with these guys. They like to play down to their competition. But, if we do see a winning streak over the next couple of weeks, because even beyond those few games, they actually play the Pacers for a second time and the Brooklyn Nets along with the Magic who have been okay. So, there is a real world where the Bulls could be five or six games above 500 and in the top six in the Eastern Conference. Does that give AK enough ammunition to say, “We’re right there. Let’s accelerate this.” Now, I personally don’t think the Bulls will go down this route. My hope is AK has learned uh his mistake from the first time around when he hit the gas pedal prematurely in 2021. But we do know there are going to be opportunities, stars that are going to be available leading up to the deadline. And is there going to be an offer that is just too enticing to pass up? Is Giannis going to be available as the season wears on? Things started out well for the Bucks, but now they’re sitting eight and seven, 11th in the East. Giannis is going to be out for the next couple of weeks, which means the Bucks are really going to struggle to win games. Now, you’re going to have to give up the moon to get Giannis. We’re talking about, you know, ballpark range of four or five first round picks, multiple young players. And as good as Giannis is, you have to ask yourself if it’s worth gutting your roster to get him. And then, of course, I think a lot of people are expecting guys like John, Zion Williamson, yes, even Anthony Davis are likely going to be shocked depending on how the next couple of months go for their respective teams and how they play out. I highly doubt the Celtics would make Jaylen Brown available when they’re just in a gap year. But if they start falling in the standings, do they try and go down a tanking route to get a top pick? I would say it’s very unlikely. But my point is there are going to be some big names that will be available as we get closer to the deadline. And the Bulls actually have the assets. They have the salaries, the expiring contracts to make the money work. Would they put themselves in play in position for a bigname player? And then of course, the Bulls could go the opposite side of the spectrum. Do they maybe look at their expiring contracts and try to sell those off for future assets? It’s going to be an ongoing discussion, an ongoing debate this whole season leading up to the deadline. What do the Bulls do with Kobe White and I sumu and Vuvich, but to a lesser extent as I think Vucha’s trade value is going to not really be that high on an expiring contract for a 35-year-old. But Kobe and Io are going to have the most value going into the trade deadline for the Bulls, aside from maybe Modis Bucellis, of course, who is going to be untouchable in the Bull’s eyes. But Kobe, both Kobe and Io have been incredible so far this season. I know Kobe has only played in two games, but he’s looked just as good as he did last year. IO has looked even better than he did last year and he hasn’t really missed a beat since that shoulder injury. And yes, both players are going to be expecting very large pay increases when they hit free agency in the summer. And so the age-old question at this point that we even started talking about last season, are the Bulls prepared to pay both of them? Which they can do. They’ll have enough cap space to pay both players. But because they have a crowded back court and because they really have to start asking themselves, is this core, the current core, if we resign these guys and it takes up the bulk of our cap space, is this core getting us to contention? And if the answer is no, then the Bulls have to consider whether it makes sense to try and trade one or both of Kobe and Io before they hit free agency and they lose them for nothing, especially when Kobe and Io’s trade value is really high right now with the way they’re playing and the fact that they’re in their mid20s and then their prime. And so the opposite of what I talked about before and the Bulls maybe using Kobe and IO to be included in a trade deal involving picks to get a star level talent to Chicago. In this instance, would the Bulls sort of double down on this youth movement or rebuild and maybe move Kobe, Io, and Vuch for some draft picks or young players with some upside? I do think there would be contending teams interested in Kobe, especially for teams that need an added scoring punch and knockdown three-point shooter and also teams interested in IO for a strong role player coming off the bench. The question is more so how much? What would these guys net you in a trade package? Especially if you combine both of them in a trade deal. And look, I’ve been asked this before. Well, between these options, what path do you think the bulls are going to take? And to be honest, I have no idea. I actually have no idea what position AK is going to take on this. I mean, a lot of it depends on whether we get closer to the deadline and the Bulls continue to perform above expectations, are sitting top four or five in the East, then making an all-in move is probably more likely. But at the same time, I don’t know. If the team is performing above expectations, maybe they don’t rock the boat and keep things steady and see how things go into the offseason. I mean, they don’t have to rush any of this. It’s not like they’re up against a closing championship window. This year wasn’t even about that in the hopes of trying to win a championship. And so, making a hasty move like that when things are actually going well with your current roster might actually throw off the team chemistry and dynamic if you add in a star-LE player. Like, yes, there are issues with this roster. There are things the Bulls have to address, most notably their interior defense and rim protection. Uh they’re not a good offensive rebounding team. They don’t get to the free throw line that much. Like this team is far from perfect, but it doesn’t necessarily mean they need to go for it to go allin this season and making any risky moves that jeopardize their future. Either way, it’s going to be interesting. It’s going to be very interesting to see which direction this front office takes, especially if the Bulls start stringing together more wins. I would love to hear what you guys think, though. You let me know in the comments. As always, be sure to subscribe and I will see you in the next

Discussing the different paths the Bulls could take this season and what it would mean for their future.

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