Detroit Pistons vs. Chicago Bulls 2019-20 Season Preview
When Failure Fails
The 2018-19 Chicago Bulls should offer a cautionary tale to the relentless “we should tank” truthers who believe the only way to build a team is to purposely lose. Not only is it miserable and nearly criminal to subject your fans to this, the Bulls are proof that it hardly ever works. Fans love to point to the 76ers as the poster child of successful tanking, but it took them seven long years of being terrible and they still missed on most of their picks.
After punishing their fans with a 20-62 record (fourth worst in the NBA last season) the Bulls were “rewarded” with the seventh pick, which they used to select point guard Coby White. White showed promise as a freshman for North Carolina, but at 19 years old, it will be awhile before he makes an impact as a point guard in the NBA.
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Franchise changers like LeBron James, Anthony Davis or Zion Willamson (pending) don’t come along every year and you usually need to have one of the top three picks to get them (ugh, just had a Darko Milicic flashback). Throwing away an entire season is a tough way to build hope. However, entering the second year of a seemingly never-ending rebuild, fans of the Bulls do have some reason for optimism.
In addition to White, the Bulls drafted Daniel Gafford out of Arkansas with the 38th pick, adding him to a team already crowded with forwards. They swapped one veteran for another when Robin Lopez left for Milwaukee and was replaced by free agent Thaddeus Young. This move is probably a wash, as both offer similar veteran leadership, as well as defense, hard picks and rebounding off the bench. The three-year deal the Bulls gave Young raised some question marks, as the 12-year pro has definitely left his best days behind him.
Chicago added guard depth in a sign-and-trade for Tomas Satoransky, who is also insurance for any potential Zach LaVine trades or injuries. The rest of the additions were just roster fillers, so the Bulls didn’t exactly set the world on fire. They have a decent young core to build around with Markkanen, Wendell Carter Jr., LaVine and White, so the Bulls should be better, though will still likely be at the bottom of the Eastern Conference again. I might have overstated the optimism. The Bulls are proof that tanking doesn’t always work, youth doesn’t always mean hope and perpetual losing is not that fun to watch.