Chicago Bulls Taking Patient Approach To Start Free Agency

The Chicago Bulls played the long game in the 2020 NBA Draft, selecting 19-year-old Patrick Williams with the No. 4 pick and a draft-and-stash prospect in Marko Simonovic in the second round. Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas is taking a similarly patient approach with the start of free agency.

While there was a flurry of activity over the weekend, the Bulls have been mostly quiet after entering free agency with no cap space. They agreed to a one-year, $5 million deal with veteran Garrett Temple on Friday, using part of their $9.3 million mid-level exception in the process.

Temple will bring legitimate veteran leadership to Chicago’s locker room and depth on the wing, but expectations should be low for his on-court performance as he joins his 10th team. The 34-year-old averaged 10.3 points, 3.5 rebounds and 2.5 assists while shooting 37.8% overall and 32.9% on 3-pointers last season. He’s a 34.7% 3-point shooter for his career.

After the Temple deal, restricted free agent Denzel Valentine predictably decided to accept his $4.7 million qualifying offer on Saturday. This came after the Bulls decided not to extending qualifying offers to Kris Dunn and Shaquille Harrison.

Furthermore, two-way player Adam Mokoka is back on another two-way contract after accepting his qualifying offer. Chicago added undrafted guard Devon Dotson as another two-way player after the draft.

That’s the extent of the Bulls’ action so far. There are now 15 guaranteed contracts and two two-way players on the roster, which is the maximum allowed when the season starts.

This lack of movement may be disappointing to some who were hoping Karnisovas would come in and take a sledgehammer to this roster after yet another disappointing campaign in 2019-20. However, a major blowup was never all that likely, at least when it comes to the young core of the team.

Zach LaVine has been involved in trade rumors, but the Bulls are surely asking for a haul for their best player. Lauri Markkanen and Wendell Carter Jr. don’t exactly have the highest value around the NBA right now, and Karnisovas likely wants to see what they can do under a better coach in Billy Donovan as they hope to build their value back up. Coby White finished his rookie season strong and shouldn’t be going anywhere unless it’s for a star or valuable draft capital.

There’s nothing wrong with Chicago going into the 2020-21 season with all these guys to better gauge what this group can do together with a new coach. If things go well, the Bulls will have built up the value of their young core and made the franchise more attractive in 2021 free agency, with more flexibility to make big things happen.

If the Bulls flop again, that hammer should definitely come out in order to make sweeping roster changes. Plus, another flopped season could result in a franchise-changing talent like Cade Cunningham in the 2021 NBA Draft.

While taking this patient approach with the core is reasonable, Karnisovas should be looking to tweak the rest of the roster. Otto Porter Jr. and his bloated expiring contract of over $28 million probably isn’t going anywhere, especially since he can help the team when healthy, but he should be a trade candidate. Ditto for fellow veterans Thaddeus Young and Tomas Satoransky, with Young being the obvious trade choice. The veteran forward wasn’t happy with his minutes last season, and it’s hard to see that changing much in 2020-21 given the roster construction. As of right now, though, the market doesn’t seem too hot.

Looking at the rest of Chicago’s roster, Cristiano Felicio, Chandler Hutchison, Luke Kornet and Ryan Arcidiacono shouldn’t be safe. Valentine shouldn’t be either, but he does have the right to veto any trade.

The Bulls still need an upgrade in the playmaking department to help out that young core. Veteran guards Chris Paul, Jrue Holiday, Ricky Rubio and Eric Bledsoe have all changed teams already in trades, so a move for one of those guys is out. A Russell Westbrook trade doesn’t seem likely. Trading for Mike Conley and his $34.5 million expiring could be a possibility, but it’s unclear if the Utah Jazz have any interest. George Hill is a potential flip candidate after he was included in the Holiday deal. Maybe a Derrick Rose reunion is even on the table.

Looking at younger options, New Orleans Pelicans guard Lonzo Ball has been linked to the Bulls before and may still be worth a gamble. Perhaps the Charlotte Hornets are willing to trade Terry Rozier or Devonte’ Graham now that LaMelo Ball and Gordon Hayward are on board, with Rozier the more likely option after Graham broke out last season on a cheap contract.

The guard options in free agency were never all that appealing, and that’s especially true now that the best options are off the board. Chicago still has the remainder of its mid-level exception (about $4.3 million) and the bi-annual exception ($3.6 million) available, but using those would require dumping guaranteed contracts.

If the Bulls ultimately wind up not doing anything else, it will be somewhat disappointing, even with the excitement of this new regime and a competent head coach. Running back almost entirely the same roster isn’t all that exciting, even if it would make for an interesting experiment to see if Boylen was as bad as everybody thinks.

However, it’s also true that making moves just to make moves isn’t always the way to go. Karnisovas taking a patient approach to remaking this roster could ultimately be the right play here, and there should be some trust that this new front office knows what it’s doing.