The Kings traded DeMarcus Cousins to the Pelicans last weekend, and the Bulls got worse.
The Bulls owned Sacramento’s first draft pick this season if it wasn’t in the top 10. At the All-Star break, the Kings’ pick would’ve landed outside the top 10 but inside the lottery, the Bulls’ best play.
But now that the Kings have traded their best player, there’s no shot. The Kings will plummet and the Bulls will end up with a second-round consolation prize near the spot where they drafted Cameron Bairstow. Yippee.
So, now what?
Sounds like an argument to trade Jimmy Butler for lottery picks and rebuild, is what. The Kings set the bar pretty low for a top-10 or top-15 player, so you’d think the Bulls could do better than Buddy Hield, Tyreke Evans, Langston Galloway, a 2017 first-round pick and a 2017 second-rounder.
But that doesn’t appear to be the route the Bulls have chosen. As the trade deadline approaches Thursday, Butler doesn’t not appear to be a topic of conversation around the league, according to our Bulls beat guru K.C. Johnson.
What’s more, Butler doesn’t sound like a guy who’s been told to have a suitcase ready.
Then riddle me this, Batman: What’s the road map to a championship by building around Butler and how fast can it be driven?
The Bulls continue to fob off the clumsy idea of getting younger and more athletic while competing for a playoff spot. They’re hoping the younger players they drafted can get better while the older players carry them and set an example, although the example the older players have set is to publicly rip the younger players for not caring. That’s some plan.
Does the plan include Dwyane Wade? Can it possibly include the 35-year-old Wade as a starter? Could Wade ever accept the idea of coming off the bench?
No, no, and no. I guess the plan includes convincing Wade to opt out of his two-year deal after this season.
And the plan has to include dumping Rajon Rondo. Adios “Alphas."
Would the plan include re-signing Taj Gibson? He’s as professional as it gets, but at what price for a 31-year-old? Do you trust Bobby Portis to take over, add more scoring than Gibson and be consistent?
I’d ask the same question of Nikola Mirotic, but we already know the answer, and again, it’s no, no and no.
Your small forwards would be Doug McDermott and Paul Zipser. Can you imagine McDermott and Zipser starting for a championship team built around Butler?
Photos of the Bulls’ Taj Gibson.
Photos of forward Doug McDermott, the Bulls’ 2014 draft pick from Creighton.
I’ll give you a moment to collect yourselves.
Robin Lopez is signed through the 2018-19 season, and the Bulls can do worse at center, and have.
Filling in the chasms in this championship plan, then, will have to come from the draft and free agency.
McDermott and Mirotic have been rumored as trade pieces, supposedly for first-round draft picks. Yes, that’s the rumor: first-round picks for a couple failed first-round picks. Don’t do hallucinogens, kids.
When it comes to free agency, the Bulls never sign the best players. They only get used by them. The Bulls settle for free agents, a more likely result with the new collective bargaining agreement that allows teams to pay a bigger ransom to keep their own players.
So, the Bulls’ plan appears to rely heavily on the drafting acumen of the same wonks who brought you Bairstow, Portis, Zipser, Denzel Valentine, Jusuf Nurkic, Gary Harris, Tony Snell, Erik Murphy and Marquis Teague the last five years.
Sorry, but I don’t see how this plan works unless LeBron James retires or suffers a career-ending injury.
Maybe Bulls wonks will surprise me, but if past is prologue, their road map to building a championship team around Butler will make the Chicago Pedway system look like the Autobahn.
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