Pau Gasol is not coming back to the Chicago Bulls next season. Joakim Noah is not coming back to the Chicago Bulls.
Taj Gibson may be on his way out, too.
The Bulls are testing the trade market for Gibson, reports Joe Cowley at the Chicago Sun-Times.To add some further clouds to the Bulls frontcourt rotation, a league source said that the Bulls have been talking to several teams about the possibility of moving Taj Gibson. The power forward is in the final year of his contract, scheduled to make $8.9 million.
If they do in fact send Gibson elsewhere, that would leave a frontcourt of Robin Lopez, Nikola Mirotic, Bobby Portis and Cristiano Felicio, and some serious money to spend.
The Bulls are going into a retooling mode, keeping Jimmy Butler saves it from being a full rebuild. Gibson may be the best trade piece they have outside Butler — he is a rock solid defender, provides rim protection, doesn’t score a lot but plays within himself and is efficient in putting up points. Plus with that contract, a lot of playoff and contending teams will have interest.
The question is who would the Bulls get back? Young players that fit better into coach Fred Hoiberg’s system ideally. The market should be fairly robust for Gibson.
The Bulls are going to take a step back this coming season, but hopefully start to develop a team identity around Butler and Hoiberg. They need to go after free agents that can fit into that system and guys they can take risks with.
It’s going to take time, but we’ll see if the Gar/Forman front office can execute that vision.
