The Chicago Bulls returned to the playoffs last season after a very busy offseason. Adding DeMar DeRozan, Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso and Ayo Dosunmu paid off big time, giving them a core that has what it takes. In the 2022 NBA offseason, Chicago took a more relaxed approach.

The Bulls re-signed Zach LaVine and Derrick Jones Jr., drafted Dalen Terry and signed Goran Dragic and Andre Drummond in free agency. Drummond will replace Tristan Thompson as the backup behind Nikola Vucevic. Dragic and Terry were brought in to be key support pieces, likely off the bench.

Chicago is looking to run back the same team they had last season in the hopes that better injury luck and more chemistry will help the team improve. If their hope is not rewarded, this offseason may be looked back on as a big missed opportunity. Regardless, there is one move they came into the offseason they had to make and ended up doing so.

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Bulls' best move of 2022 NBA offseason

LaVine joined the Bulls via trade when Chicago traded Jimmy Butler, the former face of the franchise. He joined the team nursing an ACL tear and has continued to improve into the All-Star he is now.

LaVine's new contract is worth $215 million over five years. Although working around such a big contract to retool the team may be tough, LaVine commanded a max contract. Not only is he one of the better players in the whole league but he stuck through several miserable seasons before getting a truly good core around him. The Bulls were right to repay his loyalty with a max contract.

Although the Bulls re-signing LaVine was a good move, the fact that it is their best offseason move is disappointing. It's a sign that their offseason was rather uneventful.

Perhaps this was intentional. The Bulls showed a lot of promise when fully healthy and started to struggle mightily when Ball and Caruso went down with injuries. However, with Ball still recovering and Chicago's need for a playmaker/defender at the point guard spot made clear, the Bulls should have looked to add more than just Dragic.

Perhaps Dosunmu, who showed lots of promise in his rookie year, can improve and assume Ball's role while he continues to recover. Chicago could also roll with Caruso in the starting lineup like they did last year. Placing either guard next to Dragic off the bench could make for a nice one-two punch.

The Bulls could have also looked to add more defensive reinforcement than just Terry. Their defense should improve overall if their key defenders stay healthy but they could still use more help in the frontcourt. It's a pretty massive “if” for the Bulls to rely on.

The team in place in Chicago is solid but not one good enough that they can try to run it back with a few tweaks and think that will solve everything. They could use some defensive help on the wings and some more reliable options at the center spot.

The Bulls deserve some credit for taking care of business with LaVine, even though it was an obvious move that they needed to make. It shouldn't take away from the moves they could have made but were unable to do, though.