Bulls summer rumors are minor but accumulating

draft talk, free agent talk, coaching and executives talk

I somewhat said all I needed a few weeks ago when it came to this Bulls summer of change¹. Though maybe I didn’t emphasize enough that I am not a fan of a teardown because I don’t want the current front office in charge of it. They already screwed it up not making any even “slight step-back but forward-thinking” moves the past 5 transaction periods. They haven’t drafted well. I’m all for doing that still instead of going all-in for JV conference participation medals, just not for the “get really bad on purpose” plan. That plan will only succeed in lowering payroll and giving management more rope.

Luckily (I guess?), the front office is too shortsighted and delusional to realize they are bad at this, and are forging ahead, always ahead.

They are a truly boring and hopeless roster, but the NBA rumor mill even deigns to drop some Chicago morsels on us every once in a while. So here’s a post on all that:

DeMar DeRozan extension

Darnell Mayberry posted several interesting tidbits this week at The Athletic. The most significant one was regarding DeMar DeRozan, and it wasn’t so much what was reported as how it was non-reported, almost taking an older rumor like an accepted fact:

The Bulls would be happy to re-sign DeRozan on a two-year deal. DeRozan’s side obviously would covet more security. The Bulls have a habit of liberally latching player options into contracts so that carrot could come into play with DeRozan’s deal as well. The dollar amount will be hefty, likely north of $40 million annually.

Mayberry doesn’t provide much context, in fact saying “reasonable amount” when $40M is not reasonable. Long-time reader Kris Amundsen effectively sounded the alarm on this and I agree: giving DeRozan a raise shouldn’t be remarked upon without scrutiny. Sure, DDR outplayed his last contract. But this team should not be paying a player this old for past performance. Pay what the market bears, use your leverage. They failed to do so with Vucevic, and though DeRozan is a far better bet it is also a lot more money.

Patrick Williams restricted free agency rumor

Mayberry added in that column “how much the Bulls value Williams will now be fascinating to watch play out”, and I very much disagree. I don’t think it’ll be fascinating at all, I didn’t even comment on Williams in my top 4 or 5 offseason priorities.

Williams, who isn’t very good at anything, downright bad at a few things, and just had a major foot surgery, won’t get too high of an offer (Mayberry reports the OKC Thunder have “great interest”). The Bulls will either match or wait out and retain Williams at a pretty low amount. Like they did with both Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu last offseason. Mayberry put a figure of $16M annually - the number turned down as an early extension - as a benchmark. To me that’s low enough to where it’s impossible to be some egregious error, given that Williams is about to turn 23 and is irrefutably tall. Unless they are truly concerned career-wise over the foot.

Bulls telegraphing their draft again?

Someone should do analysis of draft promises rumors in recent history, because it’s likely biased interpretation that it feels like the Bulls do this more than other teams. They are in a class to themselves in terms of laziness², so maybe that’s indeed the case.

From KC Johnson, there is “growing speculation” (from Kevin O’Connor of The Ringer and our old pal Ricky O’Donnell) that the Bulls made a promise with their #11 pick to Devin Carter, a 22 (and a half, by season’s start) guard.

There was another rumor a week earlier that had the Bulls potentially trading up for center (of the large and lumbering variety) Donovan Clingan.

I have not done the work to earn the right to actually assess the prospects. I usually just assume they’ll make a bad pick and then be pleasantly surprised when I’m wrong and develop (usually with another team).

The concern is the process. It’s just not good practice to have such focus on a couple players to where you’re making promises or committing more assets. I do think in the case of trading up, an acceptable deal would be working with Portland to move up to #7 by only giving up the lotto-protected first the Blazers owe the Bulls. That asset has less value to the Bulls than the Blazers, they could just make it a 2nd rounder (or two?) immediately and Portland would regain flexibility in their first round picks going forward.

Coaching changes and front-office non-changes

Perhaps feeling embattled, it appears that Arturas Karnisovas and Billy Donovan are closing ranks. It was pretty hilarious that in a press conference where he pledged an open mind to change, AK was emphatic in closing the door to any front office changes.

And it was reported by Mayberry (and not announced, as per Bulls tradition), that AK’s second in command, GM Marc Eversley, received a contract extension.

Weirdness of the non-announcement aside, this is, to me, actually…fine. Like I said with DeRozan, you pay based on the market and not past performance. Eversley doesn’t appear to actually do anything (3 YEARS without a player trade!) but we did see reported interest from other teams in hiring him. I’m sure this contract is cheap, all team options, and he has an out if there’s a clear promotion.

Unlike with executives, there was talk at the end of the season suggesting changes to the coaching staff, and they’ve been progressing with that.

The names aren’t important as much as the power dynamic. There are other departures, but worth mentioning that Chris Fleming is out, and Henry Domercant is, at-best, reassigned. That’s notable because both were with the Bulls before Karnisovas’s and Billy Donovan’s arrival. So now in their place are hires by AK/Donovan, and a promotion for Billy’s son Billy Junior-Junior.

As mentioned with respect to Eversley, it’s about the market. Donovan received interest from University of Kentucky, giving him leverage over the Bulls. Being able to pick your staff, including your son, is a job perk result of that. My question is why can’t they apply similar logic with their players?

1. warning: may not be much change at all just something AK thought sounded good and everyone reporting is projecting competence on this regime

2. hmm, perhaps the Charlotte Hornets? But their own Jordan era is over.