They were going to be Starsky and Hutch, Butch and Sundance, silver and gold, fame and fortune, righteous brothers. The Bulls a few years back supposedly finally found another electric and eclectic scoring duo, DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine, to start a new era of Bulls basketball excellence. Sure there was Lonzo and Vooch, but it was the two All-Stars, All-NBA, Olympic gold medal to be, Mr. Steady and Mr. Slam.
And now with the Bulls season ending 112-91 loss Friday to the Miami Heat once again in the NBA’s play-in tournament, two of the biggest questions facing this Bulls team moving forward is what to do about DeRozan, who is an unrestricted free agent, and LaVine, who is recovering from foot surgery and subject to trade rumors and speculation for the past year.
There are other issues to deal with like injured Patrick Williams, who is a restricted free agent. The Bulls can match an offer or make him a qualifying offer to retain his rights for one more season, or negotiate an extension. Backup center Andre Drummond also is an unrestricted free agent, like DeRozan. So is Javonte Green. Lonzo Ball has a player option he certainly will pick up as his presence with the team remains uncertain after missing the last two seasons after multiple knee surgeries.
In some respects, the Bulls look like they moved on with the development of Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu in LaVine’s absence. Still, they finished the regular season with a poorer record than last season with LaVine missing half this season, and again failed to make the playoffs. Perhaps puncturing the notion the team is better off without LaVine. A salient question has been if LaVine returns whether it would set back the development of White and Dosunmu.
And then there’s DeRozan, who has been the team’s go-to player, fourth quarter scoring star and veteran presence. He’s expressed interest many times this season about re-signing with the Bulls. And while it’s hardly his fault after consecutive missed playoffs, should the team pivot and evolve to its younger players? After all, DeRozan will be 35 this summer, and if he resigns with the Bulls their salary cap space to do much more would be limited.
And can the team continue to depend on him as many minutes as he played leading the league this season even at his age? But if not who can step up in the clutch as he has, and really no one else has with consistency. In addition, at 35 is it time for him to take a look at a team closer to contending with his prime years nearing an end? Perhaps a sign and trade?
And do the Bulls trade LaVine and if not in a deal return an All-Star given LaVine’s health uncertainties, perhaps pieces to fit their obvious needs? Like a three-point shooter and an athletic power forward type?
Or with LaVine returning to health give them one more run with the development and improvement of White and Dosunmu and the steadiness of Nikola Vucevic because despite the disappointing loss in Miami, the East is not so powerful anymore and it seems like the team with a tweak and a twist here and there maybe isn’t that far away?
The theme was continuity, consistency and competitiveness the last two seasons with no trade deadline movement.
Questions, questions, questions. Without answers for now.
“In my conversations with Arturas (Karnišovas, basketball operations chief), the feeling was can we generate and create some continuity with the group,” said Bulls coach Billy Donovan. “That was the overriding thing, and that continuity never happened, quite honestly. And the reason it didn’t happen we have two starters out. From day one when all this happened I’ve said I felt there was enough in the locker room to compete.
“What could've been a very difficult, challenging, disastrous season those guys turned into an opportunity to get to the playoffs one game away and we didn’t earn that,” Donovan acknowledged. “So the plan and my conversations talking to Arturas was let’s get this group together with the understanding that Lonzo we knew wasn't coming back. My conversations with them was let's keep this group together, let's see what this looks like, let's see if we can make steps of growth. We’ve got to get more connected as a team, all that stuff, and with the way the season unfolded with several injuries it’s hard to sit here and say…there was no continuity this year. There just wasn't, really from start to finish. That was the initial goal, to try to create some consistency.”
Which makes it a big offseason for the Bulls that has started much sooner than they hoped or expected.
Donovan said, “It would be nice if he (DeRozan) came back,” and players seconded that.
“That’s my dawg,” said Coby White. “It would mean everything for this organization, for the fans, for this city, for everything he’s done for this organization and the city and my personal growth, my dawg; whatever he wants he should get paid. It’s important for us to have him back and me personally I want him back and hopefully they can get everything done and he’ll be back in a Chicago Bulls uniform next season.”
White also put in a good word for LaVine.
“He’s kept in contact,” White said. “When the media ran with all that (trade) stuff it was out of his control. He’s been here and after games texts the group. He texted me and the team right after the Atlanta win (to congratulate). Zach has been my teammate since I’ve been in the NBA and I know how much he cares about winning and the team and I don’t see a problem because I know who he is as a person. He gives us and me motivation and I can’t thank him enough for that.”
Caruso also weighed in with support for LaVine and Patrick Williams, and Caruso dismissed the notion that LaVine’s presence would harm the other guards.
“Throughout the year you could see times all the guards and wings, we had to play 40 minutes and being able to cut that down to 30 and having a guy come in and play 30 (would strengthen the team),” said Caruso. “He (LaVine) was averaging close to five assists; something he’s gotten better at is making reads and obviously everyone knows the scoring talent he has. He can score in bunches and be a threat for us and kind of get a shot whenever he needs and that is something that is invaluable in the NBA; a guy you can say here’s the ball and go make something happen. There’s always a spot for someone like that on the team.
“Coby, Ayo, myself, we’re intellectual, cerebral players; we can always find a way to fit in with that,” said Caruso. “Also missing Patrick this year; he was playing really well coming out of that (5-14) stretch at the beginning of the year. I think he’s a difference maker for us with his versatility and gives us a lot. I was forced to play some of that small ball four. I tried my best, but obviously I’m not the athlete, the rebounder, the physical presence Patrick is. So missing him really hurt, and obviously Zach is one of your big guns, a guy who can score points in bunches and the other team has to respect. That obviously hurt.”
Of course, you support your teammates. Not to say they were insincere, but all the Chicago Bears players talked about preferring Justin Fields. It’s management’s job, however.
And no one likes to mention the injuries, but LaVine and Williams did account for about 40 points per game.
"When you look at the list of guys that were out, Pat, Zach, it's key players,” DeRozan agreed. “It's big time players that we were missing. Even when they were out we didn't sit up here making excuses, looking like we had less; everybody took upon the challenge. Sometimes we couldn’t sustain it. Sometimes we went on runs where we made it look good. I think just knowing that so many key guys were out was for me always kept the hope there. We were against the gun throughout the whole season. A couple of weeks ago we had a team meeting and Billy brought up how many guys were missing and I remember leaving practice and I was, ‘Damn, I never thought once we were missing this much of an important group of guys and we were still resilient.’ That's what gave me the hope, honestly. Knowing if we were healthy we'd have figured it out. But the talent of guys we had not being able to play was a real thing for us.
“My first year, that was the team that we'd planned on being,” said DeRozan of the group with Lonzo Ball that was leading the East until near All-Star break and Ball’s loss for knee surgery. “Then lose our star point guard in ‘Zo, Zach getting hurt. That first year we had all the pieces in place. I don't know if a black cat ran in front of us or we broke a mirror or whatever. But (a team for the future) just giving us a chance to be competitive and putting a team on the floor we can go out there and compete with. Not just fighting for a play-in game.
“Pretty sure over the next couple days, couple of weeks emotions will be all over the place,” said DeRozan. “Sometimes you gotta kind of let those emotions come down so you can think logically. I could feel all type of negative ways right now that I may not feel next week. I always try not to react off of impulse or speak off impulse no matter how I’m feeling. It's just going to be a long summer for me. It's kinda like you crawling up the hill and take a look at that mountain and think you gotta do it all over again, gotta figure it out. It's just gonna be a long summer for me, just thinking about a lot."
Though DeRozan reiterated his preference to recommit to the Bulls.
"That's still where I'm at," DeRozan said. “At the end of the day though, I hate losing, hate missing opportunities. It really hits you at the end of the season when you look up, last seconds run off and you don't have another game. Next time I play a game it'll be my 16th season. Then you realize the window is closing for you personally. I'm not trying to play 25 years, nothing like that; just want to have the opportunity to have everything great and have the opportunity. My stance on wanting to be here is still the same, but I just want to win. More than anything, just have the opportunity to win and not have to go home and see the first round of the playoffs, second round of the playoffs (on TV); it’s frustrating.”
And so the work begins.
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