Will the Bulls "compete" in the buyout market? can they even afford to?

not only is this roster underwhelming, it's inflexible!

Arturas Karnisovas’s Big Lie after another do-nothing trade deadline was that his goal was to assemble a team that would compete in every game, so he was satisfied with this group. No notes.

In the games since, the Bulls are 3 for 3 by that metric (“AK wins”? will workshop this). They even had a competitive game in Atlanta without Alex Caruso, which only further illustrated how shortsighted it was to not trade him.

Another smaller lie AK told, a repeat one from last season, was that additions don’t help teams. It’s just another bizarre easily-debunked talking point in his arsenal, though this was is even worse as he has personally proven it untrue. The most notable 14-9 stretch in the history of regular season basketball, mentioned again in that presser, was due to a player addition: the signing of Patrick Beverley as a free agent in the buyout market.

As a general rule, the buyout market is always overrated, these guys are usually available because they are an unfortunate combination of old and ineffective (I resemble this remark…). Beverley had a pretty significant effect on the 2022-23 Bulls, perhaps because a player of his type was so sorely needed.

On the 2023-24 Bulls, we can’t assume there will be an addition because the GM says nothing is needed. They’re already “very good” and “can compete against the best teams”.

But let’s hypothetically assume a non-braindead front office and think what this team actually needs. And that’s forwards, especially with Patrick Williams’s return completely uncertain.

In Williams’s absence, coach Billy Donovan is being downright Thibsian in his minutes allocation: Coby White and DeMar DeRozan are in the top five in total minutes played this season. White has been nursing wrist and ankle pain for much of the season, and DeRozan is 34 years old. In the 7 games since Williams went out, Alex Caruso is over 34 minutes per game, usually defending bigger and stronger forwards, and had his latest but surely not last minor injury absence on Monday. Julian Phillips isn’t ready to be on a “competitive…competitive, to compete” team that AK professes to want.

I’d say the free agent decision for these guys come down to three main factors:

• money

• competing…FOR A TITLE (sorry, Arturas)

• role/minutes

With Beverley last season, he chose the Bulls for the obvious need he was filling, he was pretty immediately the team’s starting point guard. There was also the secondary motivator that he was a Chicago native.

When it comes to money, we didn’t really know what the Bulls could afford to offer, even at the prorated amount of a rest-of-season contract, before hitting the luxury tax. They have had an open roster spot all season, sitting roughly $1.7M below the tax line, but nearly all of that hypothetically could’ve been earmarked for Coby White hitting contract incentives.

This wasn’t discussed in the AK press conference (reporters were probably suffering nosebleeds having to hear so much bullshit and didn’t remember to ask), and Billy Donovan has made some remarks suggesting they’re looking to add but he’s just the coach. Thankfully, on Tuesday Will Gottlieb of CHGO reported that White’s incentives are still “very unlikely”. So perhaps they were not statistically based but something like White making all-NBA, or The Bulls (lol) winning (lol) the NBA Title (lolololol).

picture of Joe Harris last time he was a viable NBA Player, over a season ago

So it appears the Bulls can sign a free agent, maybe even above the minimum: they have part of their MLE and the Lonzo Ball DPE available as cap mechanisms, with the contracts prorated. It’s almost too bad, as the Bulls signing some stiff who doesn’t help, bowing out of the play-in or first round as expected, AND accidentally going into the luxury tax…that may be the one thing that would get AK fired.

But perhaps they are not 100% confident of this, and won’t sign anyone. Because we are hearing nothing while some names are already off the board:

HoopsRumors.com

Above is the list from HoopsRumors.com, guys waived as part of trade deadline trades (as we are Bulls fans we may have forgotten: those are transactions that happen in-season involving players).

I’ve read elsewhere that Delon Wright (remained with the Wizards) and Evan Fournier (dealt to Pistons) could hit the market, but both have yet to be waived. Fournier would be a good addition for former teammate Nikola Vucevic, and it does seem that for a franchise without many goals one of them is (for some reason) keeping Vuc happy.

Also missing from that list is Kyle Lowry, who was bought out after the deadline by the Hornets and signed with the Sixers. Players also now unavailable include: Dinwiddie (Lakers), Goodwin (Grizzlies), and old friend Thad Young (Suns), who would’ve filled the aforementioned need for the Bulls (though he doesn’t have 3-point shooting ability).

Again, these guys are available for a reason, and mostly are in the guards or centers variety that the Bulls already have some depth in. But they really are doing a disservice to their “gritty” squad by not bringing in more capable bodies to at least lighten the load.

So…former AK failed target Danilo Gallinari I guess?