The Chicago Bulls are in one of the more bizarre situations in the NBA landscape today. On the one hand, the Bulls finally have some semblance of a young core in Josh Giddey, Coby White, and Matas Buzelis. On the other, the Bulls have yet to sign Giddey to a new contract this offseason, and it's unclear if that tandem has enough in the way of defense to truly build around.
One of the lone vets remaining on Chicago's roster is big man Nikola Vucevic, who has survived trade rumors for several years now in the Windy City.
Recently, Vucevic defended Bulls Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations Arturo Karsinovas against the backlash he's received from the fanbase.
“When he first got there, I thought he made some very good moves—signing Lonzo, Caruso, Vucevic, and DeMar. I thought it was a very good team; it just did not work out. After that, sometimes it is hard to figure out what to do next. We had a lot of injuries and other challenges, but overall, I think he has done a good job,” said Vucevic, per Lukas Katilius of BasketNews.
Indeed, the Bulls were the number one seed in the Eastern Conference relatively deep into the 2021-22 season before things slowly went off the rails, and have since gone downhill from there.
An interesting Bulls team
As previously mentioned, the Bulls currently seem to be positioning themselves around something of a youth movement moving forward, something Vucevic also spoke on.
“Now they have decided to go with slightly younger players, and they did a good job in the draft as well. I think it is understandable that fans want results right away, but sometimes you need to be patient. Overall, I think he has done some pretty good things,” he said.
Overall, the Bulls are in a better position now than they were when DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine were on the team due to the youth on the roster. However, if Giddey is not signed and the team doesn't commit to a direction, Chicago could end up (further) in NBA purgatory.
