This is not exactly the free agency splash Bulls fans were hoping for.
The Bulls have agreed to a one-year deal with Vladimir Radmanovic, a story broken by Dave Kaplan of CSNChicago.com. The deal will be officially announced Thursday. Terms of the deal were not yet known but if it is any more than the veteran minimum GM Gar Forman should be run out of town.
While other contenders have gotten better through free agency — Miami signing Ray Allen, the Lakers getting Steve Nash, and so on — the Bulls have stood flat footed this summer. No doubt the Bulls have been a very good regular season team the past couple of seasons, there are serious doubts about whether they could beat the Heat in a seven-game series. They need to find a way to take more of the scoring load off Derrick Rose and diversify the offense a little.
Radmanovic does not do that. The 11-year veteran gave the Hawks a below-average 15 minutes a game last season. Now, he did shoot 37.6 percent from three last year and is a career 41 percent from beyond the arc — the Bulls can certainly use floor-spacing shooters. But that’s about all Vlad Rad does any more (nearly ¾ of his shots last year were from beyond the arc). It will be interesting to see how Tom Thibodeau deals with him on defense.
So congrats Bulls fans, you’ve made a free agent move. Just not exactly like the ones you wanted.