The 12 biggest questions facing the Chicago Bulls ahead of Media Day

The long offseason finally comes to an end Monday with the Chicago Bulls hosting their annual Media Day availability.

After three seasons with a virtually untouched roster, the Bulls finally have some new faces on the squad, inviting with them some interesting questions about the new roles, player development and the direction of the team.

Here are my 12 biggest questions heading into the season.

1. What are the goals for this season?

Bulls: Trade their two best players, Alex Caruso and DeMar DeRozan, ahead of a season where they owe a top-10 protected pick to the San Antonio Spurs

Also Bulls: “We’re going into every game and trying to win.”

In their interview with 670 the Score earlier this week, Arturas Karnisovas and Billy Donovan spoke openly about the team’s perspective heading into the season. Granted, it’s not like they were going to come out and say, ‘we want to lose every game by as many points as possible’, but they could have just said they wanted to prioritize developing their young players.

Instead, Donovan went out of his way to say, “This is not a situation where, we’re not going to just play the younger guys and see what happens.”

It’s hard to tell whether they were being honest with their remarks and whether those party lines will change if and when the team gets off to a poor start. But Las Vegas has the Bulls win total at 27.5 games. It would be nice to hear some honesty and realism in regards to the team’s goals on Media Day. And it would be even more nice to hear a concrete plan outlining those goals, checkpoints and outcomes the Bulls are aiming towards as they move toward the next iteration of their team.

2. Can Zach LaVine restore his public perception?

Zach LaVine has always been an unnecessarily maligned player. But things took a turn for the uglier over last year’s events.

The Bulls looked to trade him in the summer of 2023, but couldn’t. The Bulls started 5-14 with him in the lineup. He gets hurt and the team plays better. Trade rumors heat up after his representatives softly ask for a trade. He returns and shrugs off a PR staffer after a win. His season ended early, six days before the trade deadline, with an elective foot surgery.

Again, the Bulls looked to move him this offseason to no avail. Teams aren’t interested in paying a third option first option money, especially given his perception as a losing player that doesn’t play defense.

Wipe away the optics and what we’re left with is a 29-year-old former All-Star coming off a surgery with three years and $138 million left on his contract. Those are some legitimate concerns for any potential suitor, especially in the second apron era. But if he gets on the court and looks close to how he finished out the 2022-23 season, he will be able to dispel at least two of the three allegations and maybe prove he is worth trading for.

3. When and how will the Bulls honor Derrick Rose?

After 16 seasons, four All-Star appearances and an MVP, Derrick Rose announced his retirement via Instagram early Thursday morning.

Rose’s stardom, albeit brief, was as bright as anyone’s in Chicago Bulls history. He was a remarkable individual talent that led the Bulls to their greatest heights since the Michael Jordan era.

Both Michael and Jerry Reinsdorf alluded to a celebration of his career at the United Center sometime in the future, the question is when.

Capped at 21 roster spots, the Bulls cannot currently offer him a ceremonial one-day contract to retire in his hometown jersey.

Rose’s number 1 should absolutely be retired into the rafters at the United Center. It would make sense to do so when the Bulls host the New York Knicks, coached by Tom Thibodeau, on January 4.

4. How does the team view Coby White?

As the primary guard, Coby White experienced a rare breakout in year five, and finished 14 points behind Philadelphia 76ers guard Tyrese Maxey in the NBA’s Most Improved Player award voting.

Despite his leap, the Bulls’ most aggressive move of the offseason was to trade for another primary guard, Josh Giddey, presumably moving White into an off-ball role.

There should still be plenty of usage for White, maybe even more than last season depending on how the team’s offensive identity materializes. Although the Bulls no longer have DeRozan, LaVine will be back in the lineup, Nikola Vucevic is still an offensive hub, and young players like Ayo Dosunmu, Patrick Williams and Matas Buzelis need to get some extra touches to develop their games.

What does that say about the team’s belief in White as the primary guard moving forward?

5. What is Josh Giddey worth?

After trading Caruso for Giddey, one of the biggest questions facing the team is when, and for how much, do the Bulls try to re-sign him.

Heading into his final season before restricted free agency, the Bulls can extend Giddy until the start of the season. If the two sides fail to come to an agreement, they can again attempt to settle on an extension ahead of free agency 2025. If they get past that point, the Bulls will have match rights on any offer Giddey gets.

There is no doubt Giddey is a talented player. Big guards with elite passing and vision are a commodity in the NBA.

The ones who warrant giant usage are also high volume, versatile scorers. If not, they can at least defend and shoot at a high level to keep defenses honest.

Giddey went from starter to out of the rotation in key games last season because he is a defensive net negative and he hurt the offense when he didn’t have the ball. He should have more chances with the ball in his hands on the Bulls, but is he good enough to warrant that type of role long term? If not, is he worth a potentially lucrative investment?

6. How much different does the offense look?

For the last three years, the Bulls offense has resembled it’s best player. But DeRozan is gone, and with him, go the high efficiency mid-range shots, the prolific free throw drawing and low frequency of turnovers.

The Bulls have to reinvent themselves.

“We’ve lost the analytical battle. We were just not a high-volume 3-point shooting team,” Donovan said in a recent interview on 670 the Score. “There were games we walked into with teams taking an enormous amount of 3-point shots, and we’re not able to keep up at that rate. And it’s not necessarily about bombing up 3-point shots, but you don’t want to be up against it on a continuous basis.”

With the new personnel, the Bulls should be able to amp up the pace, transition game and three-point volume if they find the right balance.

“We have some talented back court players, but they’re only effective with the ball in their hands. What kind of sacrifices can we make individually, where we’re not going to have one guy with the ball in his hands all the time,” Donovan said.

They’re saying the right things. I’m curious to see how it plays out in practice.

7. Can the Bulls get out of the bottom-five in defense?

Caruso ain’t walkin’ back through that door.

The Bulls fell from 5th in defense in 2022-23 to 22nd last season and it would have been far worse without Caruso. In fact, with Caruso on the court last year, the Bulls had a 113.6 defensive rating, which would have ranked around 12th in the league last year. Without him, they had a 120.6 defensive rating, a full point per 100 possessions worse than the last ranked Utah Jazz.

Though Caruso was the defensive infrastructure, it wasn’t just him. Only three of the eight players who logged at least 1000 minutes for the Bulls last season made the Bulls a better defensive team than when they sat. Two of those players, Caruso and DeRozan, are gone. The one remaining player with whom the Bulls performed better on the defensive end when he played compared to when he sat was Vucevic.

Despite the fact that Donovan is a very good defensive coach, it’s quite possible the Bulls are the worst defense in the league next year. We’ll see if they can learn and apply the principles that will be the basis for a better defensive infrastructure down the line, or if they will need to find new personnel to turn this thing around.

8. What is Matas Buzelis’ future

At one time the projected first overall pick, Buzelis fell into the Bulls laps at 11.

It’s not exceedingly likely that Buzelis turns into a star, but he’s got at least some star equity that the Bulls need to thoroughly explore.

However, during their interview on The Score, Donovan said that developing a routine, learning how to be a winning player, and facing adversity are just as important as playing time.

“This idea of, we’re just going to take a bunch of young players and throw them out there and give them playing time, there’s things with development, you’ve got to earn things too,” Donovan said.

9. Where does Nikola Vucevic fit in?

Last year at this time, the Bulls were prioritizing playing through their veteran center as an offensive hub.

That didn’t really happen. And as White emerged with LaVine out of the picture, the Bulls fell back into old habits.

Without DeRozan, the Bulls don’t have many players that can draw two to the ball, force help and spray the ball out to shooters. Through the post, elbows and top of the key, Vucevic can be one of the better options for putting the defense in rotation. That’s something they will need to count on in order to help the younger players develop.

Is this the year the Bulls finally get the best version of Nikola Vucevic?

10. Does Patrick Williams have another level?

The difference between Williams’ points per game as a rookie compared to his fourth year is +0.8. The difference between his rebounds per game as a rookie compared to his fourth year is -0.7.

Williams hasn’t been a bad player, and there has been growth outside of the box score. But fresh off his $90 million contract, it’s time to see whether there is any additional scoring, creation and aggression in his game. And without DeRozan in the fold, there should be plenty more chances for him to take on those responsibilities.

11. Can Lonzo Ball play?

After three surgeries and nearly 1000 days since his last NBA game, Lonzo Ball is trending towards a return for the Chicago Bulls.

“We don’t know how he’s going to respond after games after practice because we haven’t seen it,” Donovan said on The Score. “That’s where we first have to start off with. Is it something where he plays 15-20 minutes and has to take the next day off? Can he play 25-30 minutes? How does he respond? The back-to-backs. We don’t know any of those things, so we’re going to wait to find out.”

It would be foolish to expect too much from him after all he’s gone through, but it would be quite a feel-good story if he’s able to play even as much as Donovan suggests.

12. Did you forget about Ayo Dosunmu?

With Giddey in the fold, LaVine back and White having taken a massive leap, the starting backcourt is crowded.

Dosunmu, who also took a huge leap last season, may be squeezed out of the starting five, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be a big part of the rotation, and what the Bulls are doing long term.

But I’m curious how his role changes with more mouths to feed and whether that will stunt his growth. From January 13 on, he averaged 16.3 points, 4.4 assists, 1.1 steals on 52.4/43.5/83.6 shooting splits in 35.5 minutes per game. He might be one of the mouths that deserves feeding.