The Chicago Bulls made the (correct) decision to completely blow it up this past summer by shedding many of their veterans and their cap space in order to start from scratch and start rebuilding through the draft.
They made a very good (although it was criticized at the time) decision to use the No. 7 pick they acquired in the Jimmy Butler trade to draft Lauri Markkanen in the 2017 NBA Draft. He has shown he is definitely a building block and their power forward of the future.
They “used” and extremely young and inexperienced roster in 2017-18 to finish with the 6th worst record in the NBA this season and are likely (unless they jump into the top 3) to have the No. 6 pick in what should be a very deep 2018 NBA Draft.
They also have the ability to have as much as $41 million in cap space this summer (2nd only to the Lakers), and could try and make a splash by bringing in a top-notch free agent.
Apparently that is not their aim this summer.
From Mark Shanowski of NBC Sports Chicago:
“The assumption in league circles is the Bulls will wait until 2019 to make their big move when players like Klay Thompson, Kawhi Leonard and Kyrie Irving could be on the market, and might consider signing with the Bulls after watching another year of development from LaVine, Lauri Markkanen and Kris Dunn.”
This is absolutely the right and most logical move for the Bulls. The chances they would be able to land a free agent like LeBron James or Paul George are essentially non-existent with their current roster and there is no reason to spend your money on anything less than star talent when you can let your young players develop another year and likely garner another top draft pick and even more space for 2019.
Even in a tight market there will be some players in the 2018 free agency, the Bulls won’t be getting one of them though.
