the Bulls don't have a philosophy, they have a roster

no creativity or ambition either, skip

A couple news items dropped from the draft, putting Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Everlsey’s comments this offseason into further context. While only Eversley spoke after the first round on Wednesday, it was an example of “organizational alignment” that AK publicly touts:

Let's hope Noa Essengue develops better than Bulls' novice front office

The message, per usual, doesn’t make sense, but it has been consistent: the Bulls don’t currently have stars, but feel you don’t need too many stars (let alone superstars) to achieve their goal of “being competitive”, plus there’s hope that a star will pop on the current roster due to their emphasis on player development.

I think what gets lost in the translation from AKME through their bought media (and some independent reporters as well) as this is not a team building philosophy borne out of successful experience and careful forethought: they say these things because this current roster is pretty much all they have to show for their last 3 years on the job. They don’t have a lot of future assets, and haven’t shown an ability to generate value through transactions¹.

The past three seasons saw them too late and too awful at tearing down the greatest 1st seed in January of all time, and as a result do not have great young prospects, future high draft picks (since they won’t take, at least not on purpose) or many additional draft picks.

(they do have cap flexibility in summer of 2026, but with the league continuously shortening contract lengths in CBA agreements this is no unique achievement, plus they’re about to waste a big chunk of it in about a week)

AKME are not good team builders, so they’ve pivoted to being salesmen. And while they are also not good at that, they are good enough to convince one dummy and his absentee father to give them more time than the fans want to give them.

Because for the fans it’s plain to see: despite what they are saying, they are not investing in young talent for the next team. They’re investing in this current team that had a nice March.

Back to that news I mentioned at the top:

1. The Bulls had a deal proposed to them from the Pelicans that they turned down and then the Atlanta Hawks wound up taking: moving down to #23 and gaining an unprotected 2026 first rounder

2. They traded down with the Lakers in the 2nd round from #45 to #55 and only gained cash², and then used that selection on someone they reportedly will sign to a two-way contract. Meanwhile, the Lakers used more cash to take advantage of another small-market team in Minnesota to move up to #36 overall. At that range, there are more legitimate prospects available who wouldn’t have taken a two-way but likely a team friendly 3-year contract a la Julian Phillips.

3. Eversley confirmed no new hires to replace the former head of player development, instead ‘promoting internally’ and the department is led by head coach Billy Donovan

These are not actions from a team serious about a youth movement!

They are instead serious about the current roster. We know they really want us to believe them and think this group is good, and Eversley confirmed it with ludicrous framing on the radio Thursday morning:

“I would look at how we end the season this past year, 15-5 down the stretch. Obviously, a bitter loss in the Play-In game. But the players who played in that game, Giddey, White, Huerter, Matas, Vooch, those guys all logged big minutes. Those guys are all coming back. They’re all going to be with us. Now, we layer in guys like Patrick Williams, Jalen Smith, Ayo Dosunmu is coming back from injury, Zach Collins as nice addition at the trade deadline.”

Initial lulz was regarding the ‘secretive’ Bulls blurting out that they’re not trading Vucevic, but more funny to me was this spinning of their postseason faceplant. Described as ‘a bitter loss’, where in reality: they were completely blown out, at home, by an opponent that then went on to suffer one of the most lopsided first round losses in NBA Playoff history, to a team that then themselves lost in the next round.

But Eversley’s rattling off of the current roster, including (lmao) Vuc, was also helpful in context of a whole offseason so far of them saying and acting how the roster is full.

Which is another example of complete nonsense, and I wish local beat would stop repeating it:

1. The Bulls currently have 12 players under contract, plus rights to Giddey and Essengue. The roster cap in the offseason is 20, plus the 3 two-way roster spots

2. You have until opening night to trim the roster to 15. And they have enough players on expiring salary to keep for midseason trades, you can simply release some of the others. Or, if not wanting the dead money on the cap, trade them away with a second-round pick attached, but whoops we don’t want those.

There’s also the obvious (if dealing with a normal team) route of dealing away current rotation players, but the lack of those trades is not some secret plan. They don’t want to trade their guys. Vuc and Lonzo Ball would be gone already if the Bulls didn’t (over)value their veteran leadership³ versus an actual playoff contender more simply valuing their on-court performance.

The Bulls like to be secretive, and some fans do wishcasting thinking it’s because they surely have a strategy that makes sense to not divulge. But not only are they not capable of sound strategy, the secrecy is only when it comes to their own contracts. They have been saying, over and over in public, that they think this roster is full, and will improve, and is already good enough to compete for the lamest prize in the NBA: the lowest seeds in the Eastern Conference Playoffs.

1. this was an issue with GarPax as well, but though GarPax similarly relied too much on yearly draft picks, they at least had a pretty good drafting record!

2. The Athletic’s John Hollinger: “another reminder that the Bulls are an unserious franchise.”

3. and also not wanting to admit mistakes