MrSparkle wrote:Dan Z wrote:Almost Retired wrote:plenty of blame to go around. But the worst thing is does anyone think we'll see improvement next year with a mediocre Draft this year? Or the year after that? Or 2027? 2028? I don't see a path to relevance as a title contender anywhere down the line. The Bears have stolen any interest I had in the Bulls. I'm excited for the NFL Draft. I'm not enthused about the NBA Draft at all. No needle movers where we're picking. I think the Bears are legit playoff contenders this coming season. While the Bulls are just play-in cannon fodder. No hope whatsoever. And there are no miracle trades or some generational Draft talent coming our way to matter. The Bulls are mediocre and will continue to be mediocre for years to come. Unfortunately.
The problem is when AK got here they stopped looking for a franchise player and decided to go in a "win now" direction without one.
The team played well for a few months when Lonzo was healthy, but how far was that team really going to go?
I was happy with that concept. Winning 45+ games is a good place to be in. All your player trade values increase. We also still had quite a decent pool of prospects, and the salary structure/flexibility was perfect.
The lack of moves afterwards is the big issue. It was painfully obvious that at best, Lonzo would never be as good again, and at worst, he'd never play a game again... and having more and more sample size of how bad Vuc+Zach were... and getting a clearer and clearer picture of how Patrick, Coby, etc. are not star caliber players...
If he pivoted quickly from the slow-moving explosion, we'd be in a better place. Instead he's doubled down through 3 trade deadlines and 2 summers, and now is faced with a really challenging off-season. The total irrelevance of Marko, Patrick, Terry and Phillips really hurts too, as time passes.
I agree that AK should've moved in a different direction a long time ago, but I also don't think his direction was very good.
I don't think Zach was ever a franchise player and now he's being paid as one. Building around Zach, DDR and Vucevic wasn't a good idea. Trading two lottery picks plus WCJ for Vucevic was also bad. I know AK didn't think they'd be lottery picks, but if he did the trade with that in mind then why not do a better job of protecting the picks?