What are the Bulls up to?
A couple of days ago, I wrote about the Bulls doing a very non-bull thing and making a deal to basically buy two 2nd round picks in a deal that helped the Sacramento Kings complete a deal with the Cleveland Cavaliers. This very unfamiliar move got me dreaming of a Greek Freak landing in Chicago.
Well the Bulls continued to make more strange moves today. Earlier today, the Bulls completed another deal that helped a team shed salary. In exchange for Kevin Huerter's three point shooting and expiring contract the Bulls received guards Jaden Ivey and Mike Conley Jr. Hueter was going to leave for nothing in the off season so getting a young restricted free agent in Ivey was actually a pretty nice deal. This gives the Bulls a couple of months to see what Ivey can do. After all, just 3 years ago he was the 5th overall pick in the NBA draft and made the all 2nd all NBA Rookie team. If he sucks, they let him walk like Huerter was going to do anyway. If he looks good they can re-sign him to a deal. And they will have several months of free agency to sign him so they can see if there are better options out there while keeping him in their back pocket. Conley Jr. is insignificant. He is 38 years old and has played very few minutes this year. His only purpose was to allow Detroit to get a first round pick swap from the wolves in order to sweeten the deal. I'd be surprised if he ever plays for the Bulls. (Oh the deal also included Dario Saric's contract which the Bulls just picked up in the previous deal... but he'll never play so it doesn't matter.)
But the wheeling dealing Bulls were not done. While the previous two trades can stand on their own merit as the Bulls ended up with picks and the option to keep or dump a young player, this third deal makes absolutely no sense unless the Bulls have another deal planned. The Bulls finally traded away a guy who should have been traded over a year ago in Nikola Vucevic. And I don't mean he should have been traded because he was bad. He should have been traded because he was good and the Bulls are in basketball Hell (see definition in my previous post). In exchange for the double double machine who plays center and hits 37% of his threes, the Bulls got... nothing. Well almost nothing. The Bulls traded Vuc and the Denver Nuggets' 2027 second round pick to the Boston Celtics in exchange for yet another guard in Anfernee Simmons and what will most likely be New Orleans 2026 second round pick. So the Bulls traded a low second round pick in 2027 for a high second round pick in 2026. That is not exactly something you'd celebrate getting in exchange for a big man who can pass and score the way Vuc does. But that isn't even the weird part. The Bulls actually added salary in this deal. Simmons is making a bit over $27 million this year compared to Vuc's $21.5 million. And did I mention he's another guard.
This is the only Bull I am 100% sure will still be on the team Friday.
As I write this, the Bulls have SEVEN guards on their team (Ivey, Conley Jr., Simmons, Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu, Josh Giddey, and Tre Jones). Although I would not put it past the Bulls to try to field a team of all guards, it seems like there must be other deals brewing. And speaking of brewing, how does this affect a possible trade for the Greek freak who currently resides in Brew Town?
Well, one of the only reasons to add extra salary via Simmons contract is if it will be sent out in the next deal. So perhaps the deal just became: Buzleis, White, Simmons, and a ton of picks for Giannis.
The pick still works. It also opens up another possibility for the Bucks to dump Kyle Kuzma's salary and get another young player by adding Dosunmu and Conley Jr. to the deal.
Just like everyone else for the past 20 years, I have no idea what the Bulls are doing. Maybe they are actually playing chess while everyone else is playing checkers. Maybe they are just morons who don't understand you don't need 7 guards. maybe they will trade White and Dosunmu for something else like a bag of used jerseys. But I have to believe this is not the last deal they will make over the next 48 hours.
Time to find out exactly what the Bulls are playing at.
Seeing Vuc in a Celtics jersey is going to be weird, but if it ends with the Greek Freak in Chicago, nobody will care about the guard logjam.
Honestly, that last trade is illogical because increasing their payroll with a player who earns more than the one they traded makes no sense at all. But oh well, they know what they're doing. The important thing, as already mentioned in the previous post, is that they pursue a good number of draft picks while simultaneously accepting that they'll be losers for the remainder of this season and perhaps the next, in order to try and secure a very high first-round pick and have an interesting rebuild in the future.
I think they already traded White for another player and second-round picks, which I'm not saying is bad for the future, but I think they could have gotten more for him (White) or (Vucevic). I understand that in the NBA it's complicated because trades have to be fairly balanced in terms of the money involved in player contracts, but I think it's better to do it like they did in the first trade, where they received several second-round picks. But the really important thing is to acquire some talent for the future in the upcoming drafts, where they could surely pick a high number among the first picks. Maybe someone similar to Derrick Rose wouldn't be bad. They could also be that third team involved in the moves to complete some other trades and get more future picks, which would be good. They shouldn't be overloaded with point guards and should build something good between Giddey and Buzelis (I think that's how it's spelled) and become a playoff contender again, as well as a title contender.