Doing Your Due Diligence, Keeping an Eye on Portland, Trade Remorse, and Other Bulls Bullets

Elias Schuster Elias Schuster
May 18, 2023
May 18, 2023
Chicago Bulls
Chicago Bulls

The Chicago Bulls are the epitome of Squidward looking out his window at Spongebob and Patrick playing gleefull🌳y. Not only are they now officially without a pick in the 2023 NBA Draft, but the combine has been going on this week right in their front yard.

The majority of the league’s prospects have been competing in scrimmages and running through tests. And as almost every team in the NBA gets to fantasize about which player might fall into their laps, the Bulls continue to sweat over how they’ll fix this current roster.

  • We did learn on Wednesday that the Bulls interviewed projected top-3 pick Brandon Miller out of Alabama. To be clear, this conversation apparently took place prior to the draft lottery, which means it happened at a time when the Bulls’ dreams of keeping their pick weren’t officially dead. However, even though they’re now out of the draft festivities, we shouldn’t necessarily expect them to stop speaking with some of the key names.

  • At the end of the day, every team has to do their due diligence. Chances are the organization will still talk with multiple agents and bring in several players to work out. You just never know what opportunities may open up as draft night inches closer and closer. So, as unlikely as it may feel right now, we simply can’t rule out the fact that the Bulls do have a first-round pick on their roster by the end of June 22nd.

  • With that in mind, we spoke a little bit about the Trail Blazers reported interest in selling their pick. While I’m not recommending anyone hold their breath, it’s hard not to see the Bulls as a fairly worthy trade partner for a win-now Portland team.

    • Wꦇhat if the Bulls and Trail Blazers Made Some൩ Noise at No. 3?

  • Let’s also not forget that there are more ways than one for the Bulls and Trail Blazers to get involved. If conversations around No. 3 don’t happen in earnest, the two will likely have to speak about the current pick Portland owes Chicago. As we’ve discussed numerous times, since the future lottery-protected pick has yet to convey, the Trail Blazers have extremely limited flexibility. That’s really bad news for a team trying to add impact talent, so is there a world where the Trail Blazers try to swap that pick out with the 23rd pick in this draft (which they own via New York)? It’s something to keep an eye on.

  • Also, for what it’s worth, Sean Highkin of the Rose Garden Report (which provides independent coverage of the Trail Blazers that you can subscribe to ) downplayed the idea of a Bulls-Blazers swap for the No. 3 pick. Appearing on the CHGO podcast, he said that neither DeMar DeRozan nor Zach LaVine is likely to get a deal done. Highkin suggested that the team would potentially shoot even higher and that LaVine’s skillset may not be the desired fit next to Lillard (which we also stressed in our post shared above). Anyway, you can listen to Highkin’s full interview with the CHGO boys .

  • In other not-so-fun news, the Nikola Vucevic trade has been officially paid off. And, well, yikes …

    • Nikola Vucevic Trade is Officially Paid Off

  • Whether it be in reference to trading away Jimmy Butler or trading for Nikola Vucevic, I know living in the past isn’t worth it. But the fact of the matter is that all it takes is one move to drastically change the future of a franchise. This Vucevic deal ended up significantly hampering the Bulls’ ability to add to their win-ready roster the past couple of seasons. Not to mention, it significantly damaged their future, as they’ve now missed out on two lottery picks in the past three seasons. So, yes, I know it’s annoying to complain about yesteryear … but that stuff can have a powerful domino effect.

  • Jimmy Butler putting up GOAT-like numbers.

  • I mean … look at this:

  • Why do I feel like everyone ends up saying something like this about the Heat? STOP UNDERESTIMATING THEM! THEY’VE BEEN TO THREE OF THE LAST FOUR CONFERENCE FINALS!

  • Ok, that’s kind of impressive.

  • Nobody does it quite like Chuck. He can make even the most disappointing season a whole lot more fun.

  • You tell me!

    • Do the Bears Have Bigger Plans for Ja’🔯Tyre Carter?

  • Fans are going to want immediate success with Bedard, but it’s still going to take time.

    • Blackhawks Brass Unified In Preaching Patience

    written by

    Elias Schuster is the Lead Chicago Bulls writer at Bleacher Nation. He started with BN full-time in 2019 immediately after graduating from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign with a degree in Journalism (yes, he started with the Jim Boylen Era). Since joining, Elias has been the driving force behind Bulls and NBA content for both the site and social accounts. You can follow him on Twitter/X @Schuster_Elias.

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