The Chicago Bulls' 2021-22 season just ended with a first-round series loss to the Milwaukee Bucks in five games. The Bulls competed with the Bucks through two games, only to get blown out in the final three. Chicago's final three ugly losses looked similar to many of the games at the end of the regular season against quality competition.
Despite this, this Bulls season should still be viewed as a success. After being one of the worst teams in the NBA for four seasons after trading Jimmy Butler, Chicago finally returned to relevance thanks to the acquisitions of Nikola Vucevic, DeMar DeRozan, Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso over the past year and change. The Bulls sat atop the Eastern Conference for a while before injuries and other roster issues took their toll, resulting in a 46-win campaign and the No. 6 seed.
Chicago's front office did give up a lot of draft capital to build this roster, so there's limited flexibility to use draft assets to take another step. And it's that next step to true championship contention that will be the biggest challenge for this front office. The Bulls increased their talent level in a big way last offseason, but their core still has notable flaws and they don't have a legitimate two-way superstar to drive everything.
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DeRozan just had arguably the best season of his career, but he's on the wrong side of 30, struggles defensively and got schemed away by the Bucks in the playoffs. LaVine should be back on a max contract as he hits free agency, but he just dealt with knee problems and will likely require surgery. As good as LaVine is, he's also not a two-way star. Vucevic is another offense-first guy, and he just suffered through a season with a big dip in shooting efficiency while being merely passable defensively. These are all really good players, but the fit together on the Bulls is questionable given their weaknesses.
Ball and Caruso help mask some of those weaknesses, but there are injury concerns for both of them. Ball has missed time basically every season and seems to be a slow healer, while Caruso just plays so damn hard it's almost hard for him not to get banged up.
Looking past that core group of proven players, Patrick Williams' development is a major swing factor. Williams missed most of this season, a major setback in that development. He again showed flashes when he came back but has a long way to go to be a real impact player. Year 3 will be massive for him in Chicago, assuming he's not traded for a more proven talent. The young forward taking a big leap in 2022-23 would go a long way toward helping this roster improve.
Internal development from rookie guard Ayo Dosunmu would also be a big plus. The rest of the roster could use a big overhaul.
All of this and more got discussed on the latest episode of Blue Wire's Cash Considerations:
What comes next for the Bulls and what kind of moves should they make? Should they give LaVine that $212 million max deal? Should they run it back with this core or try to shake things up with a Vucevic trade?
Whatever they do with the core, it's clear Chicago needs more size and shooting to really compete. Even with their jump this season, they're still clearly below the best of the best. It will be a fascinating offseason for the Bulls, and there are major challenges ahead as they try to take that next step.
Cash Considerations: A Chicago Bulls Podcast is part of the Blue Wire Podcast Network. The pod can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts.
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