This past season, the Chicago Bulls failed to improve. Instead, they took a step back, getting bounced in the Play-In Tournament by the eventual Eastern Conference champions, the Miami Heat. Now, they will have to take a serious look in the mirror if they want to get back into the playoffs next year.
However, they may not be too far away. Chicago already has the star power to compete in the East in Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Nikola Vucevic. If they can surround that core with better talent, they could have a chance to make big improvements. Sam Smith of NBA.com thinks the same.
In Smith’s recent mailbag, a fan wrote in with their thoughts on how the Bulls could be closer to contention than many believe, as the East isn’t too stacked.
“I wouldn’t be fooled, but I think a lot of teams in the East are thinking that way,” Smith wrote. “I understand it, and parity does mean if you stay healthy and make a few shots at the right time… after all, as we have heard many times, Miami was trailing late in the fourth quarter against the Bulls in the play-in elimination game. So I agree they aren’t as far as 40-42 may suggest.”
That being said, Smith also checked in with a healthy dose of realism.
“Still, I think it’s more than just Coby and development,” Smith wrote. “I’ve been lobbying for some time now for the Bulls to consider playing through Vučević, and pretty much do it every week in one of these responses. But to me that also suggests two main personnel issues. It seems the Bulls have a choice to make about who is the shooting guard and then thus moving Patrick Williams to small forward. Then finding their Aaron Gordon type for some size at power forward. And finding at least one knock down catch-and-release guy for the perimeter.”
Will the Bulls make the necessary changes this summer? Only time will tell.
