New Look Bulls
For the last two seasons, it started to become abundantly clear, that either Jimmy Butler or Derrick Rose had to leave the Bulls, as they had visible frustrations playing with each other and sharing the glory.
Ultimately, it was Rose, the youngest NBA MVP in history when he won it back in 2011, who was traded to the New York Knicks and Butler, who started to emerge as the clear alpha dog in Chicago, stayed. In the offseason, Dwyane Wade, the heart of the Miami Heat franchise chose to sign with the Bulls, seemingly due to financial rifts that Wade had with the Heat, and also added former all star point guard in Rajon Rondo.
8 Points, 9 Seconds
On paper, this team initially looked to be a team that could be a threat to the Cavaliers in the East. However, upon further analysis, there are huge flaws in this team that may prevent the Bulls from achieving any more success than they had in the Rose Era.
There is one blatant elephant in the room that should be addressed with this team. The projected starting lineup for this team is Rajon Rondo, Dwyane Wade, Jimmy Butler, Taj Gibson and Robin Lopez. Just by the names itself, you would know that the blatant weakness on this team is the shooting.
Rajon Rondo is a career 29 percent three point shooter. Dwyane Wade is a career 28 percent three point shooter. Jimmy Butler is a career 32 percent three point shooter. Then, you have the bigs. Nikola Mirotic and Doug McDermott, for all their upside have also shown that they can’t be relied on for consistent shooting. The NBA is widely transitioning into a league that pushes the pace and places emphasis on shooting.
This team may not be built for the current NBA, because efficiency and shooting are two prime issues which affected the Bulls before. Unfortunately, none of the offseason moves address the issues the Bulls currently have, and they may not be primed to make significant change from last season’s disappointing outcome.