If the Chicago Bulls want to compete for a playoff spot next season, they need to build out the roster. Arturas Karnisovas is intent on keeping the current core together, and if that’s the gameplan, he needs to improve the depth around them because, right now, the team simply isn’t good enough.
One of the Bulls’ priorities this summer should be improving their wing depth. Outside of DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine, the only wings under contract for next season are Patrick Williams and Dalen Terry, and they’re more like forwards. Keith Smith of Spotrac believes Denver Nuggets wing Bruce Brown would be a great target for them this offseason.
Brown is in the midst of a great playoff run with the Nuggets and has acted as a jack-of-all-trades for them this season. He shoots, defends, playmakes, and sets great screens. Chicago desperately needs a hard-nosed player like Brown.
“As far as outside talent goes, getting another playable wing, a playmaker at point guard and a backup combo big seem like priorities,” Smith wrote. “Chicago should have the $12.2 million MLE available. That should be enough to fill one of those spots, if not both with value signings. Bruce Brown would be an ideal wing target, if he gets priced out of Denver.”
The Nuggets are four wins away from their first championship in franchise history, so they’ll likely look to bring back the same core. However, if the Bulls outbid Denver this summer by throwing their MLE at him, they could try to steal Brown away from them.
