Was it a mere two years ago that the Chicago Bulls were in the hunt for possibly signing Carmelo Anthony to form a Chicago Bulls Big Three along with Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler.
It makes the drop-off of this past season even more painful when considering, if they were competitive like the Chicago Bulls always were under Tom Thibodeau, would the Chicago Bulls have been able to make a serious run at getting Kevin Durant?
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| Kevin Durant must weigh his options for where he has the best chance of winning an NBA Championship (ie. the Eastern Conference, for starters). |
The Chicago Bulls are not in retool mode with the departure of Derrick Rose and the pending departures of All-Star Pau Gasol and former Defensive Player of the Year Joakim Noah; they need to go into full rebuild mode and liquidate their assets for draft picks and young players the way the Chicago Cubs have done.
We are witnessing on the North Side how well that plan is bearing out.
Going into full rebuilding mode and tanking this next season will yield a high pick in one of the potentially best draft classes of all time. Pair that with the potential of getting a first round pick in return for Butler, and the Chicago Bulls could be drafting the cornerstones of a playoff team that could be relevent in as little as 2 or 3 years.
Chicago fans waited 20 years between Michael Jordan and the Bulls' 6th Championship and the 2008 NBA Draft miracle that yielded then-future NBA MVP Derrick Rose.
With the Philadelphia 76ers, Minnesota Timberwolves, and Boston Celtics as the model of rebuilding in the modern NBA, it is clear that the future is brighter for teams that hit rock bottom than for teams that linger in the middle of the road.
Keeping Jimmy Butler would make the Bulls just a little too good to have a real shot at a Top 3 pick in the NBA Draft. And if you could get a 2017 Draft Pick in return for Jimmy Buckets, especially one that could potentially be in the lottery, too, then you owe it to your fans to make that move.
So, if the Boston Celtics can get together a package of Jae Crowder, James Young, their 2017 First Round Pick, and a future First Round Pick in exchange for Jimmy Butler by June 30th, the Chicago Bulls front office might just have to pick up the phone.
And with Jimmy Butler in the fold, the Boston Celtics will have a pitch for Kevin Durant worth listening to.
And the Chicago Bulls could find themselves a mere year away from drafting two cornerstones of their team of the future.
What do you think of the rebuilding plan that the Chicago Bulls already have underway? What is the next move to get the Chicago Bulls back into the Championship hunt? Let us know in the comments below!
