This offseason, the Chicago Bulls finally pulled the plug on the DeMar DeRozan era by allowing the shooting guard to walk to the Sacramento Kings in free agency. The DeRozan experiment actually got off to a very strong start in the 2021-22 season, but since then, the Bulls have been the NBA's symbol of mediocrity and have now embraced more of a youth movement.
This began when the team traded shooting guard Alex Caruso to the Oklahoma City Thunder for 21 year old guard Josh Giddey and then drafted Matas Buzelis in the first round this past June.
This being the case, some are wondering whether the Bulls may be intentionally trying to lose games in 2024-25 in the hopes of drafting someone from what figures to be a loaded 2025 Draft class.
However, one person who is not on board with those rumors is Bulls front office executive Arturas Karnisovas, who recently stopped by the Mully & Haugh Show to relay his thoughts, per Audacy.
“We’re going to try to win every game,” Karnisovas said. “Because going back to development – what goes into winning? And that’s the only way you can teach those guys how to win games, is going through that. With a lot of things to be determined, I think training camp will show a lot of things.”
Can the Bulls be competitive in 2024?
Most pundits would probably say the answer to that question is no.
At the present moment, the Bulls' biggest question revolves around the future of Zach Lavine, as the injury prone electric scorer doesn't seem to have any value on the trade market at the current juncture and doesn't fit the Bulls' newly embraced youth movement.
It will be interesting to see how Josh Giddey handles an increased role in an environment where he will likely have the basketball in his hand more than he did as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's teammate in Oklahoma City.
Meanwhile, the Bulls are banking on the continued ascension of Coby White, who dropped a 40 piece on the Atlanta Hawks in the first round of the Play-In tournament this year.
Then there is also Buzelis, who definitely needs to fill into his frame but showed some promising flashes at Summer League in Las Vegas.
Overall, there is certainly more optimism about the future of the Bulls now than at any point in the last two years, even if it leads to more losses in the short term.
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