After it was announced guard Lonzo Ball would not return from injury for the season. Many questions remain up in the air for the Chicago Bulls.
Last year, the Chicago Bulls finished as the 6th seed in the East while only being five games behind the 2nd seed. This year, they are the 11th seed so far, with a record of 26-33.
It’s now even more apparent how important Ball was for the Bulls. When Ball was healthy for the Bulls in 2021, the Bulls retained a 27-12 record; however, when Ball was injured last NBA season in January, the Bulls finished off the season with an 18-22 record. The Bulls were eventually eliminated in the first round of the playoffs by the Milwaukee Bucks in a five-game series.
While Ball isn’t the most glossy player on the team, he’s been the glue guy his entire run with the Bulls. Ball has averaged 13 points, 5.4 rebounds and 5.1 assists on 42% shooting from the field and from three during his time in Chicago.
Despite Ball’s current status, it’s unclear when he will fully return to basketball if that’s even an option. After reportedly seeing multiple doctors across the country, his injury was ‘unique’ and ‘never seen before.'
After all this time, Ball still cannot run or jump without experiencing pain in high-level practice situations.
Looking at how the rest of the Bulls’ roster is made up, there is a lot to consider for the Bulls. First, you have Zach Lavine, a wing averaging 24 points, 4.9 rebounds and 4.1 assists this season. Lavine has poured in his shots at a rate of 46.5% and 36.9% from deep. Lavine is currently 27; while he’s not old by any means yet in the NBA, he’s entering the start of his prime.
Of all of the players on this team, Lavine will be hard to move on from because he’s arguably the best player. The Bulls could decide to retool the team around Lavine or move on from him and trade him away.
Next, there’s Demar DeRozan, another wing on the team. DeRozan averages 25.4 points, 4.7 rebounds and 5.1 assists a night on 50.7% shooting. In contrast to Lavine, DeRozan is 33. Unfortunately, despite having a career year this season, DeRozan will likely start to regress in the coming seasons.
DeRozan has also dealt with his fair share of injuries, while not as severe or as common as Ball’s, but it’s still a concern to consider. Recently, he was sidelined for a couple of games due to pain in his right leg.
Considering DeRozan also hasn’t won an NBA championship yet, with a window closing faster each year, he might request a trade to join a contender to better cement his NBA legacy.
Following DeRozan, there’s center Nikola Vuvevic. Vucevic has averaged 17.9 points, 11.5 rebounds and 3.4 assists so far this NBA season. Despite being a top rebounder this NBA season, Vucevic is in the same boat as Derozan in terms of age.
Vucevic is 32, and while he’s still posting career numbers this season, this is something you can’t expect from him long-term. However, despite the fact he’s aging, Vucevic has continued to be exceptionally valuable on the court due to the fact he has remained, for the most part, relatively healthy throughout his NBA career.
To round up the starters, there is wing Patrick Williams. Williams, who’s 21, was selected 4th overall by the Bulls in the 2020 NBA draft. Unfortunately, while Williams has shown signs of the future player he could be, he has been nothing more than adequate this NBA season.
Williams is averaging just 10.1 points, 4.4 rebounds and 1.3 assists this season despite having a consistent spot in the starting lineup, averaging 29.1 minutes of play.
This leaves three main options for the Bulls: they can decide to continue to play with this team, they could choose to rebuild the team from scratch, or they could retool around Lavine.
While continuing to win would be ideal, most of the leading players on their team aren’t getting any younger, and with Ball on the shelf, things could get dodgy. Without the help of Ball, a continued mediocracy performance from the Bulls would continue and will only lead their top players to grow frustrated.
On the other hand, if the Bulls choose to start their rebuild this off-season, they could be speeding up the process of the inevitable. Keeping your four leading players on the court at the same time is something not many NBA teams can do.
Lastly, retooling the team could rejuvenate the identity of the Bulls in an attempt to recapture the magic they had at the start of the 2021-22 NBA season.
Ultimately, it would not be surprising if the Bulls decide to shake things up and trade most of the roster come this off-season and shift towards either a rebuild or a retool.
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