Maybe winning doesn’t cure all ills.
The Bulls have been on a roll since Nikola Mirotic’s return from a fractured face. Chicago has a 10-5 record, outscoring opponents by 3.1 points per 100 possessions, and Mirotic has been a big part of that, scoring 18.1 points per game shooting 46.3 percent from three, adding 7.1 rebounds a night.
But Mirotic missed time because teammate Bobby Portis punched him during a training-camp practice. After that, he requested a trade through his agent — and despite basically saying he has moved on the trade request stands, reports Joe Crowly of the Chicago Sun-Times.The Sun-Times reported last week that Mirotic and his representatives are standing firm on his trade request and that he is willing to waive the no-trade clause in his contract when he’s eligible to be dealt Jan. 15.
The Bulls have a choice to make.
They can hold on to Mirotic, see how he plays with Zach LaVine when he returns from injury (expected to happen soon), and try to figure out if he can be part of the core going forward.
Or, they can try to move Mirotic to get a young player or a pick to help with the rebuild. This could also help the cause in that the Bulls likely lose more games without Mirotic in the lineup, improving their own draft pick for next June. There should be a fair amount of interest from teams trying to move up the ladder and challenge the dominant teams in each conference.
The latter move seems the logical team-building choice, but with this Bulls front office anything could happen.