NBCSports.com’s Dan Feldman is grading every team’s offseason based on where the team stands now relative to its position entering the offseason. And in a not completely shocking reveal, the Bulls landed a 'C-' grade for their offseason activity (or lack thereof).
In Feldman's grades, a "C" represents the team being in a similar standing to where it was last season. So the Bulls are looked at as at least a little bit worse than before.
The first thing mentioned is the Bulls essentially committing near $40 million per season to the Zach LaVine-Jabari Parker duo, which is scary because the of their injury history, particularly Parker's two ACL tears.
When it comes to LaVine, there is not much doubt from anyone in the basketball community that he is an immense talent, it's just that there is not much belief that he will be able to put it all together into consistent play.
So while the LaVine move has the Bulls committed long-term to a player who has yet to play well in a Bulls uniform, the nature of Parker's deal gives the Bulls much needed flexibility should the move not work out. Something they received credit for in their grade.
Overall, the biggest knock on the Bulls was the opportunity cost of signing Parker. If he turns out to be a 20 points per game scorer who can rebound and facilitate well, then no one will blink at the $20 million per figure. But if he is abysmal from the start? There will be more discussions about how the Bulls would've been better off using their cap space in order to absorb bad contracts and receive draft picks as compensation.
But then this really becomes a discussion about process rather than results. The Bulls have been clear that they want to compete now—or at least have given the impression that they want to compete—and collecting assets that may or may not turn into valuable prospects would counter to that goal.
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I'm not sure I would've given the Bulls anything less than a C, seeing as the roster—from an overall young talent perspective—got better. And if I was to give them a "C-", letting David Nwaba walk would've definitely factored into the grade, seeing as this team appears extremely thin on wing defense (or defense in general.) And I believe that the idea of getting draft picks by absorbing bad contracts is overrated, even more so when you consider that of the main players that can figure into the Bulls core (LaVine, Dunn, Markkanen, Carter), all of them are not-too-distant top 10 draft picks who could still hit.
However, I would agree with Feldman's assessment of the Bulls biggest move(s) of the offseason:
Chicago’s most important decisions of the offseason weren’t LaVine and Parker, though. The big moves were drafting Wendell Carter Jr. No. 7 and Chandler Hutchison No. 22. Those are just too difficult to evaluate yet.
—Via NBCSports.com's Dan Feldman
We have not seen anywhere near enough of the Bulls pair of first round selections to know if they can be solid contributors, or even much more. But the NBA preseason will help clear some of that up, as we will get a chance to see the youngsters face real NBA talent.
Nikola Mirotic still isn't given enough credit for how crucial he was to many—dare I say most?—of the Bulls wins last season, and trading him away for the pick that became Chandler Hutchison puts some, no matter how little, pressure on him to become at least a reliable rotation player.
In Las Vegas Summer League action he shot 50 percent from 3-point range, which would be a lot more encouraging if it came on more than 16 total attempts. The excitement of Wendell Carter's Summer League dominance (14.6 ppg, 9.4 rpg, 2.6 bpg) overshadowed any positives by Hutchison, but make no mistake, the Bulls will need both of their draft picks to contribute in year one if they plan to exceed expectations.