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The Bulls are on their first two-game win streak of the season and face a Charlotte Hornets team playing without LaMelo Ball. What could go wrong?

Oh, wait, you’re the ones asking the questions.

I would like to know if, in your opinion, the match against the Bucks is a sign that DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine are breaking the offensive system. In the next game, when DeRozan didn’t respect the system, the team struggled. How could the front office have not seen these actions since the team, in addition to respecting good strategy and the system, played with an energy that we did not see in the previous 19 games? —Bulls Nation Brasil

I saw a lot of definitive statements made about the Bucks game and, to a lesser extent, the Pelicans game—where, it should be noted, DeRozan returned with a season-high 10 assists. And while it’s notable these two victories came without LaVine and the Bulls posted a season-high 32 assists in each, let’s slow the roll that this team is better without LaVine and DeRozan. Let’s cut to the chase: LaVine hasn’t played to his standards this season. But he’s not some gunner ballhog. Witness the games in which Miami blitzed him and he got criticized for not taking enough shots. The bigger issue is that LaVine has struggled to finish at the rim, is shooting below his career percentages and has stymied the coaching staff’s desire for quicker decisions too often with poor decisions. But as recently as last season, he was one of the most efficient scorers in the NBA. Let’s see how the offense looks when he returns and if he starts playing to his standards.

I have always been Zach’s biggest fan. But if he doesn’t want to be in Chicago anymore, is it time to tell Zach to stay home until he’s traded? This situation has got to be a distraction to the team and maybe it’s time to give the minutes to the players that want to be here. At this point, the league knows who Zach is and don’t think him not playing will impact his worth. Also, do you see any scenario where Zach isn’t traded by the deadline? — Muly S.

There are two scenarios in which LaVine isn’t traded, one more realistic than the other. The Bulls go on an unexpected run with everybody playing well and management chooses to keep the team intact. This, to me, is less likely. But there’s a real scenario in which the Bulls can’t find the right LaVine trade. This isn’t an easy contract to move, particularly if it’s a team looking to add LaVine as a second or third option. While the Lakers never have blinked at paying the luxury tax, and while I expect them to show interest, LaVine would be the third option behind LeBron James and Anthony Davis. He’d be lethal in this scenario. But will the Lakers be willing to add a player making more than $40 million over the next three seasons as a third option? Granted, James could retire in that window. So stay tuned. And I do think the Bulls will be motivated to find LaVine a new address. But it’s not a sure thing that he’s dealt this season. Perhaps it moves into the offseason? I do think he ultimately will be traded. And when he’s healthy, he can and will play.

Will they trade Alex Caruso? Lots of franchises make the mistake of trading a guy a year too late. Caruso is a plus/minus monster who is at absolute peak trade value now. He’s literally the only guy on the roster that could net a useful pick or more. And he’s certain to start breaking down more and lose value in the next 12 months. If they don’t trade him, that’s malpractice. — Alejandro Y.

All I can say is I’ve reported they’ve been hesitant to do so to this point. Now, that obviously can change between now and the Feb. 8 deadline. And there likely will be solid offers for Caruso, who is the perfect over-the-top piece for championship contending teams. There’s also a scenario in which, in order to trade LaVine, Caruso may have to be included. But Caruso is arguably this regime’s greatest success story and he is the perfect embodiment of the culture the franchise wants to project. Trading him would be painful for this management team; I can assure you that.

Do you get an overall sense if the team feels their collective shooting struggles require adjustments or that they’ll return to form as the season goes on? It seems like almost everyone (except Alex Caruso maybe) is shooting a career-low percentage and my non-scientific view is that they mostly get good looks overall. — Steve P.

Your non-scientific view is bolstered by comments from players and coach Billy Donovan when we ask. I mean, the career percentages are career percentages for a reason. Just look at Coby White, for example. He started the season shooting extremely poorly and has dug himself out of his hole, now connecting at a career-high 40.3 percent from 3-point range on career-high volume of 7.1 attempts per game. DeRozan, at 45.6 percent, is .12 below his career percentage—and well below the 50.4 percent he shot in his first two seasons here. Nikola Vucevic is shooting just 45.3 percent and an unsightly 24.3 percent from 3-point range, both well below his career marks of 49.5 and 34.5 percent. And then there’s LaVine, who’s at 44.3 percent overall and struggling to finish at the rim and also connecting on just 33.6 percent from 3-point range. LaVine is a career 38.2 percent 3-point shooter and connected at 41.9 percent as recently as 2020-21. Donovan says he has liked the shots the Bulls have generated. The Bulls hired Peter Patton in the offseason, investing in player development with one of the more highly-regarded shooting coaches in the league.  Stay tuned.

There’s a lot of talk about “the Big 3 didn’t work/has never worked/will never work.” But one thing I don’t feel like I’ve seen is why. I need an expert to break this down in depth. — Matt H.

I’m no expert, but I can play one in this mailbag. I’d start by saying the “Big 3” did work for an entire half-season in 2021-22 when Lonzo Ball was healthy. But I digress.

A big issue, and each of LaVine, DeRozan and Vucevic have alluded to this separately at times, is the lack of a true pecking order. Sometimes, each player seems as if they’re deferring to much to the others. Donovan’s true vision is for ball and player movement to create situations were two defenders are on the ball and then the ball is swung to the open player to address a closeout situation. In other words, the game dictates who gets the shot. But especially in the cases of LaVine and DeRozan, who have the ability to create their own shots, they’re in deferral mode until they feel the need to try to create a rhythm. And that’s when isolation habits come into play.

A team with this many offensive-minded players shouldn’t rank 24^th in offense, as the Bulls did last season, or 26^th, as they do this season as of this typing.

I can’t be smarter than Arturas Karnisovas. How can he not see before the season started this team wasn’t championship level? Did he think they could be the Heat of last year? With Coby playing great and Patrick Williams starting to hit his stride, doesn’t it make logical sense to trade our “Big 3” of LaVine, DeMar and Vooch? The worst thing a GM can do is be stubborn. The smart GMs see they made a mistake and move on. What are you hearing? — Emir M.

I’m hearing what I’ve already reported: Rival teams, at least for now, are working under the assumption that management is focused on the LaVine situation. There’s little to no chance Vucevic gets traded since he just signed a three-year deal. DeRozan is the one to watch. If you know you’re going to lose him for nothing in unrestricted free agency next summer, it’s indeed best to get what you can for him before the Feb. 8 deadline. But Karnisovas has said publicly he’d like to re-sign DeRozan. As for championship level, management never stated that as this season’s goal. They said they wanted to return to the playoffs, which is a longshot at this point as well.

What’s your favourite Joakim Noah quote of all time? I’m from Australia, so we spell favourite differently, ha. — Matt A.

He certainly presented plenty of options. But the following is my favorite, not only because of how fantastic it is and how perfectly it represents his personality, but also because of the context surrounding it.

Noah, who was very accessible and enjoyed the give-and-take with reporters, didn’t address the media for a week following the Luol Deng trade. He was too stung by it and upset and didn’t want to say the wrong thing. When he broke his silence following a home victory over the Charlotte Bobcats, Noah offered up a soliloquy for the ages.

“I know a lot of people say this is a business and all that, but this game is more than a business to me. I put everything I’ve got into this. I feel like Lu was the same way, so it was hard for me to digest. But that’s just my perspective. Everybody has a different job. I’m not mad at anybody. I’m not mad at the organization or anything like that. It’s just that my brother isn’t here, so I just need time to digest that.

“We just want to represent,” Noah continued. “We know this is a city that even when I come to the game, I see the guy selling the newspapers on the streets. It’s cold outside. When he sees me driving by, he’s excited. He’s like, ‘All right, Let’s go Bulls! Get it done tonight!’ I feel like I play for that guy. Like when I look at the top of the arena and I see teams call timeout and I see the guy who looks this big (in the upper 300 level) and he’s cheering, jumping up and down; that’s the guy I play for. To me, that’s what this city represents. There’s a lot of hardship in here, a lot of adversity in this city. And I feel like when I play basketball, I want people to be proud of their team.”

I remember being aware of how great this quote was as he delivered it. I was standing right next to a seated Noah. And the passion with which he delivered these words was palpable. Great stuff.

What are you going to change your X profile picture to when Zach leaves? — Maria M.

Guess we’ll all have to wait and see, right? I’ll just say my track record is to select pictures where either I look somewhat stupid (surprisingly, not that hard to find) or am not the focal point.

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The Chicago Bulls received a gift of sorts when the final two games of their 82-game schedule were set overnight Wednesday.

Thanks to an 0-4 showing in the inaugural In-Season Tournament, the Bulls joined the land of losers, drawing one home and one road game against other non-qualifiers.

They’ll play the Charlotte Hornets, who are without star guard LaMelo Ball, at the United Center on Dec. 6. Then they’ll travel to San Antonio to face Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs on Dec. 8.

Although the Bulls currently can’t point to any game on their schedule as a winnable one on paper, these at least offer opportunity.

It doesn’t matter. This season is on the road to nowhere.

The only victories that matter are what returns any trade or trades executive vice president Artūras Karnišovas makes between now and the Feb. 8 trade deadline.

With Karnišovas’ admission that he sees what everyone—fans, broadcasters, writers—sees, change is coming. This roster won’t look the same come late February and into next season. That, not chasing playoff or play-in games, is the main storyline to this season.

This will be Karnišovas’ second roster iteration after inheriting a rebuilding project and blowing it up to trade for Nikola Vucevic, Lonzo Ball and DeMar DeRozan—the latter two in sign-and-trade acquisitions—and sign Alex Caruso in free agency. He also drafted Patrick Williams, Ayo Dosunmu, Dalen Terry and Julian Phillips.

Only Zach LaVine and Coby White remain from the roster Karnišovas inherited, and trading LaVine is the main organizational focal point for now. In fact, league sources said that, at least for now, Karnišovas is responding to inquiries on other players by saying he wants to see what the roster looks like post-LaVine trade first.

While many have clamored for change before now, there’s a possible thought process as to why Karnišovas has clung to this core for so long. When he completed his significant roster overhaul in August 2021, this roster iteration centered on a three-year window.

That represented the length of DeRozan’s contract, the length of the fully guaranteed portion of Caruso’s contract and pushed Lonzo Ball to the player option decision portion of his four-year deal.

In many ways, one can see how Ball’s career-threatening knee injury only has intensified Karnišovas’ bet on continuity. By next summer, Ball’s comeback will hit a crossroads. He either will return—in some form or fashion—or his injury will be determined career-ending, taking $21.3 million off the Bulls’ salary cap and luxury tax books.

Add to this LaVine’s likely exit and DeRozan’s extension talks on hold as DeRozan weighs his future, and the potential for real change exists. If Karnišovas really wants to tear his situation down to the studs, trading Caruso and even Andre Drummond—who league sources said would draw interest—would be on the table.

More likely, the Bulls start by trying to trade LaVine and see where the roster stands after that.

Winning, or at least not losing, that deal is the only thing that matters, not whether they beat the Hornets and Spurs next week.

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BOSTON — During the 2021 offseason, executive vice president Artūras Karnišovas and his staff completely revamped the Chicago Bulls in an array of transactions and salary-cap machinations that pushed the franchise into win-now mode.

It worked—for a half season, as the Bulls led the Eastern Conference and Lonzo Ball served as the ultimate connecting piece.

Since then, despite Ball’s knee injuries placing his career in jeopardy, missing the playoffs last season and advanced metrics that don’t factor favorably, Karnišovas has clung to his core of Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vučević through thick and thin. Karnišovas has chosen to augment those players with complementary pieces rather than break them up.

Continuity is cratering. The Bulls carry a four-game losing streak and a 5-13 record into Tuesday’s matchup with the NBA-best Boston Celtics and face a daunting schedule moving forward.

“We see what everyone is seeing and are just as frustrated,” Karnišovas said Tuesday in a short conversation with beat writers. “We’re disappointed, but I’m not running from it. It’s my responsibility.”

Indeed, a feeling of imminent change hung over this franchise even before Zach LaVine and his representative made it clear to Karnišovas earlier this month that LaVine for the first time would be open to a change of scenery. And with Karnišovas being given the green light from ownership to address the myriad issues facing this team how he sees fit and with coach Billy Donovan recently extended and internally respected, those changes are coming via personnel—not the lead executive or head coach.

It’s a matter of when, not if, for personnel changes.

That said, the league doesn’t really open for business until Dec. 15, the date most players who signed during the offseason are first eligible to be traded. And even then, particularly with the introduction of the play-in format, most teams are in wait-and-see mode on whether they’re contenders or pretenders until closer to the February trade deadline.

In the case of the Los Angeles Lakers, who are expected to register interest in LaVine, some of their assets aren’t eligible to be traded until Jan. 15. With three more seasons and $138 million left on his deal past this season, LaVine is a tricky contract to move.

But LaVine’s future is the main focus. NBC Sports Chicago reported over the offseason that the Bulls held exploratory trade talks centered on LaVine and that the franchise has fluctuated in its belief in LaVine’s consistency as a lead option—issues that sources now say played a part in LaVine and his representative taking their frustrations to management.

That said, multiple sources said the relationship between management and LaVine and his camp remains cordial and professional.

Then there’s the matter of LaVine’s on-court fit with DeRozan and Vučević. While LaVine and DeRozan are close off the court, their on-court chemistry—or lack thereof—remains a consistent storyline hovering over this team.

As does the question of whether or not LaVine wants to remain with the Bulls.

“I talk to Zach all the time. The good, the bad, the ugly comes with being in this occupation and one of the best players on the team,” DeRozan said. “He understands that.”

As far back as training camp and following the third game of the season, LaVine, DeRozan and Vučević have directly stated they believe this is their last season to make it work. And it’s currently not working.

“We’re still connected for sure. And I think that’s where a lot of the frustration is coming from. We’re connected. Everybody is comfortable having those tough conversations that we didn’t have before,” DeRozan said Tuesday. “It’s just a matter of having it all click. And that comes with winning. Everyone is eager and hungry to win.”

The Bulls entered this season with postseason expectations. The hope was for DeRozan, LaVine and Vučević to continue their scoring efficiency while young players like Coby White and Patrick Williams took a step forward and free-agent additions Jevon Carter and Torrey Craig not only solidified a top-five defense led by Alex Caruso but helped a quicker offensive attack featuring more 3-point shots and paint attacks and less isolation.

Instead, the Bulls enter Tuesday’s game ranked 26^th in offensive rating, 21^st in defensive rating and 23^rd in net rating. They’re last in PACE, last in assists and 27^th in restricted area field-goal percentage. DeRozan, LaVine and Vučević all are shooting well below their career percentages.

And past the numbers, there’s the nuance of familiar themes like Donovan asking his team to play with more force and physicality. Too often during adverse times, the Bulls play with compliance, not competitiveness.

Such moments aren’t lost on management.

“I don’t think it’s from a lack of toughness,” DeRozan said. “I think it’s just from a lack of understanding and IQ so to speak. You kind of get overly scrambled and overthink a situation a lot of times. And that can cause it to be more a little more chaotic. That’s when we have turnovers or missed assignments. You don’t have to overthink the game.

“I don’t ever think it’s from a lack of toughness. It’s just a lack of understanding and IQ in certain points of the game that becomes critical. And that kind of just steamrolls us. We miss shots or make mistakes defensively, turn the ball over. Next thing you know, we’re down 10 when we just got back in the game.”

While it’s too early to know if a LaVine trade can be made or whether that’s the only major move, it’s important to remember that Karnišovas inherited a rebuilding situation and pushed his chips into win-now mode first with the Vučević trade. So undertaking a full rebuild may be too painful a path to choose.

Stay tuned on that. For now, the Bulls are merely trying to right the ship before this season careens completely out of control. Playing better and winning more also could help restore some players’ trade value.

“When you get in a hole or face any type of challenge in your life, it’s how you step up to it,” DeRozan said. “Of course it’s going to be frustrating because we all want to win. . . . You can’t carry all the negative stuff that happened prior. Worry about the next game and hopefully you get a rhythm game-by-game.

“We have a good week, good two weeks, the whole narrative changes. It’s on us to control what we can control. And that’s why we come to work every day.”

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BOSTON — When a team is 5-13 with four straight losses and seven of eight, it’s obviously a shared blame situation.

From management’s roster vision to coaches’ schemes and messaging to players’ execution, there’s plenty of blame to divvy up among the Chicago Bulls.

The odd part is: Typically in such circumstances, a coach may be on the hot seat or perhaps management could be in trouble. But with Jerry and Michael Reinsdorf’s history of employing Jerry Krause for 18 years and John Paxson for 17 until Paxson initiated his exit plan, not to mention Artūras Karnišovas’ contract extension, Karnišovas has been given the green light to try to fix the current mess.

Same goes for Billy Donovan, who is liked and respected by both ownership and management and also has multiple years left on his extension. While it has happened in recent situations like Fred Hoiberg and Jim Boylen, the Reinsdorfs typically don’t like paying coaches not to work for them. So Donovan is safe, although it wouldn’t be a surprise to see his staff tweaked moving forward.

That leaves the burden of change falling on the players. And they know it.

“We don’t think about whatever is going to happen if it keeps going this way,” Nikola Vučević said. “Our only focus is to try to turn this thing around.

“Rumors come with the territory. If you’re playing well, everything is great. Everybody is talking positive about you. If you’re losing, you get criticized and rumors start. We have to deal with that. The only way to deal with it is for us to play better. That’s the only way for that to stop.”

From Vučević to Zach LaVine to DeMar DeRozan, each member of the core three has acknowledged in the recent past that this likely is their last attempt to achieve success together. Heck, the subject dominated the postgame line of questioning as far back as Oct. 28, following the mere third game of the season, a road loss to the Detroit Pistons.

“From Day One, I’ve said it’s time to put pen to paper. It’s our third year here together. We know how this business is,” LaVine said that night in Detroit. “We all love each other. DeMar is one of my best friends. We talk all the time. But we have to figure out how to make this thing work.”

Add in LaVine and his representative making clear to the Bulls—for the first time—that LaVine would be open to a change of scenery and the feeling of when, not if, change is coming permeates the locker room on a daily basis. DeRozan also is without a contract past this season, with no recent progress on extension talks.

Not to mention that the feeling of imminent change is intensified by the consistent losing.

“It doesn’t bother me. It hasn’t in the past. I go out there and try to do my job and try to help us win,” LaVine said. “If it doesn’t happen, you understand what comes with it.

“But it doesn’t bother me. I don’t think it bothers anybody else in the room. We’re all grown men here. We all care about each other here. And that’s all that matters.”

The players insist they’re remaining connected off the court despite their on-court disconnect. LaVine, DeRozan and Vučević have shared the court for 370 minutes, the 11th-most minutes of any NBA trio. Their net rating is minus-13.9.

“When we do practice, we’re still locked in. We try to find ways and talk and everything. It’s just not happening on the court for us for whatever reason,” Vučević said. “We’re going to stick together and keep trying to find a way to do it.

“Throughout games we’ve showed signs of what it can be. But we’re not consistent with it at all. That’s why we have huge gaps in games where we play really well and then we fall off and try to make a push. We do fight and don’t give up. But it’s only results that matter. So we have to play better.”

It’s not merely lip service that the players have remained connected through the losing. During Sunday’s loss to the Nets, LaVine smiled at DeRozan as he ran downcourt following a made turnaround jumper on the baseline. Following Saturday’s practice in New York, DeRozan and LaVine worked together on footwork that DeRozan has been employing for years and LaVine utilized on that shot.

“We all get along,” LaVine said. “Nobody wants to be 5-13 or lose multiple games in a row. It doesn’t feel good. It didn’t feel like we’d be at this point now. But that’s our reality. So we have to figure out how to get out of that hole.

“Try to get a win. That’s all we try to worry about.”

That task won’t be easy Tuesday night, or beyond. The Bulls face the NBA-best Boston Celtics, followed by a home matchup with the Milwaukee Bucks. After a home game against the New Orleans Pelicans, the Bulls face the Bucks on the road, the Denver Nuggets at home, a three-game trip where they face the Miami Heat twice and the Philadelphia 76ers and then return home to face the Los Angeles Lakers.

Yikes. On paper, that looks like more shared blame to share.

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How low can the Chicago Bulls go?

They’ve lost three straight games, have scored 33 points in consecutive first halves of back-to-back losses to the rebuilding Orlando Magic and are dealing with Zach LaVine being open to a change of scenery on a daily basis inside their locker room.

“We got a good group of guys. Everybody is encouraging. We’ve done a good job of staying positive,” LaVine said. “Nobody is going to feel sorry for you. Everybody in this room supports each other, helps each other.”

LaVine’s departure feels more like a matter of when, not if. The question, of course, is: Does that lead to widespread change? Consistent losing only intensifies that question.

It also raises all manners of thorny topics like whether or not players are tuning out coach Billy Donovan.

“I don’t sense anything like that,’’ Donovan said. “If they weren’t engaged, why fight like they did to get back into the game? It speaks to them wanting to win. But we’ve gotta be able to sustain that intensity on both ends for 48 minutes.

“Sometimes when we come out, we’re testing, ‘What’s the game going to be like?’ Instead of coming out, ‘OK, scoreboard says we’re down 15, we gotta go. Score is 0-0, we still gotta go.’”

Indeed, the slow starts are bedeviling. They’re also crippling a season in which management set playoffs as its expectation.

“They need to put us down 18 when we come out so we come out with a sense of urgency when it’s 0-0,” DeMar DeRozan cracked. “That’s on us. It’s an effort thing.”

Added LaVine: “It’s not like we’re neglecting it. We have to figure out what we’re doing in the second half and try to put that at the start.”

Of course, the Bulls are digging big holes not only to start games but also to start this season. A 4-9 mark isn’t what anybody internally expected.

And if the downward spiral continues, management may need to revisit its stance on whether or not to plunge into a full rebuild. As of now, that stance hasn’t changed, according to sources.

Sources also said management has full autonomy on which path to take. Jerry and Michael Reinsdorf are known for hiring people and letting them do their jobs, giving them power and support to make decisions as they see fit.

Of course, management doesn’t have full say on its future plans unless it reaches an extension with DeRozan. And with no progress on his talks, he has the power to take a wait-and-see approach on the roster once the LaVine situation resolves.

“Fifteen years, I’ve never had a comment on what teams should or shouldn’t do. I come to work every single day with whatever it is that we got and try to make the best out of it. I don’t even look at it or go home thinking something needs to be done,” DeRozan said. “I put on a jersey. I don’t put on a suit.”

DeRozan spoke for the first time since LaVine’s openness to a change of scenery went public. He missed Wednesday’s game for personal reasons.

DeRozan said he’s not worried about the LaVine situation impacting the locker room.

“It won’t. You play in this league long enough, it’s something you gotta deal with. If it’s not personally, it’s with a teammate,” he said. “It’s just part of the game. It’s not preschool. We’re all grown men.”

And he pointed to LaVine scoring 25 points in the second half as a sign of LaVine’s commitment to winning.

“That’s the sign of a true professional,” DeRozan said. “Understanding what’s in front of him and what’s now. You can’t worry about whatever else is out there. He’s trying to lead us to a victory.”

After LaVine sank back-to-back 3-pointers to kick-start the second-half rally, he approached the bench showing strong emotion, greeted by excited teammates.

“Who likes losing? You show emotion in the game. I think that’s a good thing,” LaVine said. “We obviously really wanted to win this one. I did too.

“I come and do my job. I try to do the best I can to help us win. Everything else is white noise to me. That stuff usually takes care of itself. My job is to play basketball. It’s pretty easy to do that. How long has my name been in trade talks, four years? I’ve been doing the same thing. It’s not hard.”

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The Los Angeles Lakers will have interest in Zach LaVine if the price is right and, oh by the way, also will monitor the futures of DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso.

The Miami Heat may or may not have interest in LaVine, depending on who’s doing the talking. Caruso would look good in a Milwaukee Bucks uniform. And on and on and on.

Welcome to the Chicago Bulls’ new reality. With LaVine not denying he’s open to being moved, rumors and distractions will be part of the new every day norm. Even if plenty of them aren’t on a first-name basis with truth.

And with each future loss or poor performance, questions will come on whether or not LaVine is distracted or committed or if his unresolved situation is hanging over the locker room or causing doubt within it.

“That’s just part of the NBA, man. Trades happen all the time in the NBA. That’s just part of being a professional and being an athlete. It’s something you have to deal with,” Torrey Craig said following Thursday’s practice at the Advocate Center. “We let the business side focus on that. We just try to win games every night and play to the best of our abilities.”

For now, LaVine and his teammates are saying the right things. Craig pointed to the Bulls rallying from 19 points down rather than throwing in the towel to make Wednesday’s loss a one-possession game as an example of LaVine and the team remaining committed to winning.

“Zach came out and made some crucial plays down the stretch to give us a chance to win the game. He hit a couple big 3s. He made the right pass to AC (Caruso) in the corner for a shot. He’s a professional,” Craig said. “He has been around a long time. He knows this is all part of the NBA and what comes with it.”

But what happens if LaVine’s situation drags out and the Bulls keep losing? That will test the collective will and professionalism of all parties involved, especially because the divorce between LaVine and the Bulls feels more like a matter of when, not if.

“I don’t know if that’s necessarily the narrative about him not caring for us and not wanting to be here,’’ Caruso said. “The reports are the reports, and that’s kind of the NBA drama rumor mill that goes on every year and seems to follow the best players in the league wherever they go.

“For us it’s more focus on doing our jobs and trying to come out and play. And obviously if we don’t play well, things don’t go well for the organization. So the big thing for us is to focus on how we can be a better team and win games so nothing happens.’’

Trading Caruso would certainly hurt the Bulls’ ability to win games. Fresh off his first All-Defense team honor, Caruso has been the Bulls’ most impactful player thus far this season.

That’s why a reversal of management’s stance on Caruso would be a surprise. At last February’s trade deadline, the Bulls rebuffed all overtures on Caruso, who is on an extremely team-friendly contract and is held up internally as the type of player who epitomizes the culture the franchise wants to build.

So even if—when?—LaVine is traded, a complete fire sale would be a surprise, although Patrick Williams’ disappointing start could impact his future. Remember: This managerial regime inherited a full rebuild and cashed out on it, trading multiple first-round picks to acquire DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic.

Management’s publicly stated goal is to make the playoffs. A fire sale flies in the face of that.

But stay tuned. Like everything else about this suddenly turbulent Bulls season, it’s fluid.

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Zach LaVine’s future with the Chicago Bulls has been the source of consistent speculation, from the time he signed an offer sheet with the Sacramento Kings in 2018 restricted free agency that the Bulls matched to even after he signed a maximum five-year, $215 million deal in 2022.

So on the one hand, not much changed on Tuesday when The Athletic first reported—and NBC Sports Chicago confirmed—that the trade market will be explored yet again for LaVine.

But on the other hand, one significant wrinkle did change: For the first time ever, LaVine could be open to a change of scenery, sources said.

That’s not to say LaVine won’t remain professional and committed to trying to right this sluggish start to the season, both for him and the Bulls. After all, the team committed maximum dollars to him. But LaVine, who has been extremely loyal to the Bulls and served as the face of the franchise during a difficult rebuilding process, could be open to exploring the right situation if it presents.

Multiple things are important to remember here:

—Just because a player is open to change doesn’t mean the Bulls will make a bad deal or move him just to move him. After all, management began this season fully committed to returning to the playoffs with this group.

—The trade market opens far more widely come Dec. 15, when players who signed deals during the offseason are eligible to be traded.

—Playing winning basketball between now and the Feb. 8 trade deadline could change this story. A 4-7 start, during which LaVine is shooting well below his career percentage, is testing everybody’s patience.

—The Bulls held exploratory trade talks centered on LaVine last offseason. Their asking price remained consistently high. The unanswerable question for now is: Does that asking price drop in light of the Bulls’ struggles?

LaVine was loosely tied to Damian Lillard and James Harden, two players who have moved on to the Milwaukee Bucks and Los Angeles Clippers, respectively. As LaVine himself put it during a conversation with NBC Sports Bay Area’s Monte Poole over the offseason as LaVine prepared to play in the American Century Championship golf pro-am, he always seems to land in rumors.

“It is always rumors,” LaVine told Poole. “But I heard this: Where there’s smoke, there’s fire. Every once in awhile, you see a little too much smoke.”

Even with the 76ers finally trading Harden to the Clippers, there’s more smoke now. The package Philadelphia received, flush with draft capital that includes two first-round picks, two second-round picks and a pick swap, is the type of assets routed to acquire another star.

And according to Sports Illustrated’s Chris Mannix, LaVine and Toronto Raptors defensive ace OG Anunoby are two of the “names to watch.”

It’s all speculation for now. The Bulls play their 12th game of the season on Wednesday night at home. And most teams are still in the feel-it-out stage of their season. The time to separate contenders from pretenders is well down the road.

And the Philadelphia Inquirer’s Keith Pompey indicated the 76ers are seeking two-way players and could preserve their assets for next summer, when they also project to have significant salary cap space.

As recently as last month in Detroit, LaVine fielded questions in the postgame locker room about the future of the Bulls’ Big Three following a dispiriting loss to the Pistons.

“From Day One, I’ve said it’s time to put pen to paper. It’s our third year here together. We know how this business is,” LaVine said then. “We all love each other. DeMar (DeRozan) is one of my best friends. We talk all the time. But we have to figure out how to make this thing work.

“We’ve been here for long enough. Shoot, Vooch (Nikola Vucevic) has been traded. I’ve been traded. DeMar has been traded. We understand the business.”

Executive vice president Artūras Karnišovas re-signed Vucevic, Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu this past offseason and augmented his core by the free-agent additions of Jevon Carter and Torrey Craig. These are the moves of a franchise aiming for postseason relevance, not retooling.

Especially because Karnišovas said publicly the team is having extension discussions with DeRozan, who’s on an expiring contract. Those talks have led nowhere for now.

But what happens if the Bulls’ season continues to head south? The players themselves have talked about how changes are likely.

And NBC Sports Chicago explored the consistent speculation surrounding LaVine as far back as July in this piece linked here. Two details haven’t changed: LaVine still remembers Billy Donovan’s high-profile benching of him. And some members of the organization fluctuate in their belief in LaVine’s consistency as a lead option on a championship-contending team, questions that only intensified following LaVine’s up-and-down performances in the play-in games.

Win games, shoot better and perhaps this story goes away. But it seemingly never does.

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DETROIT — An underwhelming and disjointed 1-2 start to the Bulls’ season has laid bare potential foundational issues.

In short, if matters don’t improve, the future of the Big 3 is in question, either by the Bulls’ choosing or perhaps even by the players themselves.

From the Bulls failing to recognize Nikola Vucevic’s favorable matchup in the opener and Vucevic getting into a heated exchange with coach Billy Donovan about offensive stagnation to DeMar DeRozan needing to play hero ball in the lone victory to Zach LaVine’s career-high 51 points coming in a loss on Saturday night to the rebuilding Detroit Pistons, the core has failed to find collective chemistry.

“Obviously we’re all frustrated on why it’s not clicking the way it should be. But that’s the position that we’re in. We’re going to have to figure it out,” LaVine said. “Lonzo (Ball) was a big part of that. It looked really good when Lonzo was here.

“From Day One, I’ve said it’s time to put pen to paper. It’s our third year here together. We know how this business is. We all love each other. DeMar is one of my best friends. We talk all the time. But we have to figure out how to make this thing work.”

The players know what’s at stake if it doesn’t.

“We’ve been here for long enough. Shoot, Vooch has been traded. I’ve been traded. DeMar has been traded. We understand the business,” LaVine said. “We care for each other. You understand what’s on the other side of that.”

Vucevic made similar remarks first in an offseason interview with Yahoo Sports as he starred for Montenegro at the World Cup and then during the preseason, emphasizing that management could break up the core if success doesn’t come this season.

Remember: DeRozan is a pending unrestricted free agent after this season unless he and the Bulls reach terms on an extension. And the initial talks have led nowhere. At this point, if the losing continues, it wouldn’t surprise if DeRozan opted to wait and see the future direction of the franchise.

Just like management may wait to see how this season plays out in advance of the February 2024 trade deadline. Talks are dormant for now.

All that’s for certain is this: The days of leading the Eastern Conference when Ball ran the show are getting further in the rearview mirror.

“You can’t really compare Year One. We had Lonzo Ball. He made a helluva big difference running the show. Without that, we’ve been constantly trying to figure out what works for us,” DeRozan said. “Nights we show individual ways of it working but as a collective, we’re still working to find a balance for not just us but for the team.

“We’ve showed spurts here and there but it hasn’t been as consistent as we want it to be. None of us are selfish. We’re always trying to figure out how we can make it easier on one another for the team. We just haven’t been consistent with it.

“I think we’re going to get it. It’s frustrating because so much time went by that you think it should be second nature. But it’s one of those things I think we at times maybe overcompensate for one another because we want it to click so bad at the same time for us.”

That overcompensation is perhaps also being exacerbated by Donovan’s desire to feature less isolation and stagnation and more off-ball actions and ball and player movement. The Bulls finished 24^th in offense last season despite LaVine, DeRozan and Vucevic all having strong individual seasons. Donovan wanted to address that.

Three games in, it’s very much a work in progress.

“We’re trying this new thing out to have a complete, cohesive offense with equal opportunity. It’s going to take some figuring out. Preseason looked good. But preseason is preseason,” LaVine said. “We got a lot of our stuff in transition. Throughout the first couple of games, me and DeMar were in the corner a lot. Now we’re trying to figure out how to get involved with more touches.

“The first game, Vooch had Chet Holmgren on him. I told Vooch I have to recognize that. We all have to recognize him and Dre (Andre Drummond) were dominating. That has to be a Vooch game. We all have to figure out how to help each other. It can’t be a 50-point game from me or a 20-point fourth quarter from DeMar every game. Can’t live that way. We need everybody else. But it has to work like a well-oiled machine.”

It’s not. The halfcourt offense is extremely clunky through three games.

Asked if the new offensive philosophy hamstrings him individually, LaVine said: “It’s something we have to figure out. We each have been the main option of a team before. This is something new we have to figure out. Through the first three games, we haven’t got 100 percent of it.”

Told that sounded like a yes, LaVine said: “It’s tough when you’re trying to figure something out that’s not working. We’re going to stick with it. That’s what we have to do.”

For now, the Bulls have no other choice. But if it doesn’t change, other changes could be coming.

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When a team finishes close to .500 at 40-42 and returns 12 of 14 players, it’s hard to make any bold proclamations or predictions about it.

So in lieu of our annual bold predictions, consider these more practical ones for the 2023-24 Chicago Bulls season. And they all, of course, assume good health.

The Bulls will finish 43-39 and make the playoffs

In 2021-22, the Bulls won 46 games and finished 25-16 in clutch games, defined as any contest within five points with 5 minutes to play or less. That marked the third-most such victories in the NBA.

In 2022-23, the Bulls won 40 games and finished 15-23 in clutch games, tying for the second-fewest such victories.

The law of averages, not to mention the additions of tough-minded players like Torrey Craig and Jevon Carter, would seem to suggest the Bulls won’t be as as poor as they were last season. But it may be hard to top DeMar DeRozan’s heroics from 2021-22.

Thus, this season’s victory total will land directly in the middle of the last two seasons at 43. That projects to be enough to qualify them for at least the play-in tournament or perhaps even the sixth seed.

Regardless, even if it’s the former, the Bulls will advance to a first-round matchup with a higher seed in a parity-filled but tough Eastern Conference. Alas, a more full-formed prediction for their playoff fortunes will land on this website at that point. But at first blush, this season has a one-and-done feel to it.

Zach LaVine will join the vaunted 50/40/90 shooting club

This is rare air, indeed. Only eight players in NBA history have shot 50 percent from the field, 40 percent from 3-point range and 90 percent from the free-throw line during a season.

They are Larry Bird (twice), Mark Price, Reggie Miller, Steve Nash (four times), Kevin Durant (twice), Stephen Curry, Malcolm Brogdon and Kyrie Irving.

So go ahead: File this prediction under bold.

LaVine’s career highs in the respective categories are 50.7 percent in 2020-21, 41.9 percent in the same season and 85.3 percent in 2021-22. So he’ll need to take a substantial jump in free-throw percentage while flirting with career-bests in the first two categories.

LaVine enters this season looking lively and athletic and talking about how good his body feels. Coach Billy Donovan has talked about the desire to place LaVine in more catch-and-shoot opportunities, where he’s elite, rather than late-clock shots off the dribble.

Everything lines up for LaVine to join this vaunted club.

Coby White will keep his starting point guard spot

Remember, these are practical, not bold, predictions. And while this one may not seem like that big a deal, it is given how much White’s role has fluctuated throughout his young NBA career and how, well, he’s not a true point guard.

White is a combo guard with a gift for scoring who has put the work in to become a better ball-handler and decision-maker. He’s always been about the team, so passing never has been an issue.

But learning how to control tempo, make reads, get guys in their preferred spots, ride hot hands, prop up cold ones . . . there’s a lot for a starting point guard to do. And not only has the organization showed faith in White by signing him to a long-term deal, the coaching staff gave him first shot at starting.

And White displayed continued growth in his ability to run a team during the preseason. He got into the lane frequently, an organizational emphasis. He took care of the ball well in the first three games before faltering in this department in the final two.

So look for White to keep his stranglehold on this position throughout the season.

The Bulls will have a top-10 defense and top-15 offense

Last season, the Bulls finished fifth in defense and 24^th in offense. The latter, of course, played a huge role in the Bulls not making the playoffs. And it flew in the face of LaVine, DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic each authoring strong individual seasons.

The additions of Craig and Carter should bolster the Bulls’ defense. And Donovan, dating to his days with the Oklahoma City Thunder, consistently has maxed out his team’s potential at that end. Still, plenty broke right for the Bulls to finish top-five last season and it’s not like a top-10 finish is bad.

Offensively is where the Bulls need to take a jump. And they will but not enough to crack the top 10.

The Bulls showed some preseason potential to get in the paint more, which can lead to more free-throw attempts and kick-out passes for open 3-pointers. They also want to offensive rebound more than last season and have better spacing.

All will be critical since they still lagged in 3-point attempts during the practice games. Another offseason talking point—playing through Vucevic—didn’t occur much, at least not yet.

But with White starting and Carter not afraid to let it fly from the reserve unit, the Bulls have a more offensive-minded rotation.

Alex Caruso will repeat as an All-Defense first-team member

This one doesn’t need much in the way of explanation. Caruso is a savant at this end who plays with such attention to detail and anticipation that if he’s healthy, he’ll land on this team for years to come.

The Bulls won’t make any major trades at the February deadline

Whether this is a good or bad thing is in the eye of the beholder.

There’s a large portion of the fan base that wants to see a reset. And LaVine consistently lands in rumors for a reason; his road to full acceptance as the lead player on a championship-contending team has been a struggle.

But with management re-signing Vucevic this offseason and the Bulls headed to a competitive season, look for the core to remain intact past the February deadline. This is regardless of whether or not DeRozan reaches terms on an extension, something that can happen at any point in the season.

Clip and save. We’ll revisit these later in the season to see how right or wrong they are. I’ll say this: Predictions are one of the sillier aspects to this business.

It’s why they play the games.

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During a recent practice, DeMar DeRozan said an instance occurred that mirrored a situation from last season where the Bulls failed to execute and it cost them a game.

And several players stepped in to correct it and emphasize not to repeat it.

“Everyone has allowed themselves to be held accountable. And we’re not afraid to get on each other,” Coby White said, adding to DeRozan’s point. “I think we took a big step communicating with ourselves individually. Not just having Coach or the coaching staff say something. When we mess up or something goes wrong, in training camp we’ve been solving it ourselves.”

The Bulls want to begin establishing their identity on both sides of the ball Wednesday night when they open their season against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

On defense, that means guarding as a group with all five players engaged and connected and finishing the possession with strong rebounding. On offense, that means solid spacing, quick decision-making and getting downhill for paint penetration.

The Bulls finished fifth in defense last season. They’ve proven they can handle that end. But offensively, even with Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic having strong seasons, the Bulls finished 24^th.

So Donovan and his staff have emphasized ball and player movement, playing faster with quicker decisions and less isolation.

But what happens when adversity hits, as it does for every team in every season? Will players resort to old habits?

“That’s everything right there,” Donovan said. “Everything sounds good when you have a plan. And then all of a sudden you’re being tested on your beliefs, your values, how the game needs to be played.

“I do think we’ve got enough of a body of work last year to see if we want to revert back to that, we’re going to get the same result. It’s all about how we handle the adversity. Are we going to be OK if we have five straight possessions where we really moved the ball well and Patrick (Williams), Ayo (Dosunmu), Coby (White) and Jevon (Carter) all missed open shots? Are we going to still stay with it? Because that’s the right way to play and the right decisions to make. And what you do is you bet on playing the right way over the long haul.

“Does that mean that Zach and DeMar and Vooch aren’t going to have opportunities to do what they do extremely well? No. Of course they are. But we have to OK in the flow of the game to handle adversity. We have to go through that together.”

White insists the team is better equipped to handle such adverse moments.

“Us with another year together and the way we’ve been holding each other accountable throughout this training camp and we added JC (Carter) and Torrey (Craig), we all want to win,” he said.

What about DeRozan? He’s the player who, on paper, looks to perhaps need to sacrifice the most. If Donovan is emphasizing spacing and attacking the paint either for layups or foul shots or kick-out passes for 3-pointers, DeRozan’s midrange magic and tendency to play in isolation could be de-emphasized.

“I don’t worry about it just for the simple fact it’s basketball at the end of the day,” DeRozan said. “You can ask what we’re looking for, what’s needed. And as a basketball player, you try to do that to the best of your abilities. We all have God-gifted talent that we play on. That’s going to stick out regardless. Balancing that with how we’re trying to play is going to be beneficial.

“Worst-case scenario, you got a guy like Zach. There are going to be nights where he gets hot. That kind of negates a lot of the stuff we may be working on. That’s just the NBA. Everybody has a set foundation of how they want to play. But you have those nights where your best players get it rolling and carry you to victory. Those nights may be needed.

“Overall, I think we’re all comfortable and don’t look at it like we’re reverting if something doesn’t work. We understand that it’s a journey and the foundation we laid out simplifies everything that we’re capable of doing individually.”

The tests begin for real on Wednesday.

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It sometimes can be difficult to accurately analyze preseason basketball, particularly with a veteran roster that is as focused on health as anything.

For instance, the Bulls finished 1-4 during the preseason, Zach LaVine only appeared in three games and never saw the fourth quarter and Nikola Vučević and DeMar DeRozan only logged limited fourth-quarter action.

Still, for a team that is trying to move off isolation offense and maintain last season’s top-five defense, enough evidence exists to assess the following.

And it’s not like there’s much at stake this season or anything—sarcasm font—except perhaps the future of the franchise. With DeRozan’s contract expiring after this season unless an extension is reached and an expensive core coming off a non-playoff season, the players know what’s at stake.

“I think this is our last shot to make something happen,” Vučević said. “We’re aware of that. It’s on us to deliver.”

The lineup is set

Barring anything funky happening between now and the Oct. 25 regular-season opener against the Oklahoma City, Coby White and Patrick Williams will start alongside the Bulls’ “Big Three.”

“I felt like the last year, there was so much changing position for him. I felt like he’d mature back there and he could handle it,” coach Billy Donovan said of White. “We’ve been together awhile and we have a good relationship. He understands what I want. I’ve got a good understanding of him as player where he’s at his best.”

White downplayed winning the position battle.

“I haven’t done nothing yet. If I am the starting point guard, I have to keep growing obviously. I want to be a leader of this team,” he said. “Being vocal, contolling the team, getting teammates in spots where they like the ball and picking my times to be aggressive and get to the paint and force kickouts and just continue to create. I feel like the main thing for me coming into training camp was expanding on my leadership role.”

As for Williams, he closed the preseason in strong fashion with two aggressive games sandwiched around an early hook and challenge from Donovan. Even though he didn’t shoot the ball well in the preseason finale, he grabbed a preseason-high five rebounds and tried to dunk over Rudy Gobert.

“I think Patrick continues to evolve. He has played well,” Donovan said. “I think you also look at a fact of bringing Jevon (Carter), Alex (Caruso) and Torrey (Craig), there’s a good defensive mentality and energy there.”

Indeed, this trio coming off the bench together is as much a part of Donovan’s decision as anything. And it certainly won’t surprise to see at least Caruso and perhaps Craig play in closing lineups.

Offense is a mixed bag

Donovan said he liked the way the team tried to play as far as making quicker decisions and not stagnating and relying on isolation play as much in the halfcourt. He also liked the improvement in paint attacks and offensive rebounding. The Bulls rank third in offensive rebounding percentage during the preseason.

But limiting turnovers, which the Bulls have done well with in recent seasons, needs to improve. And for all the talk about increasing 3-point volume, the Bulls ranked 28^th with just 32.8 per game.

“I think we’ve taken some good steps in areas we’ve talked about, playing with more pace and having more ball movement and not being as stagnant, not a lot of ball-watching,” Vučević said.

Utilizing Vučević as an offensive hub with more off-ball actions served as a popular theme during the Bulls’ week of training camp in Nashville. But it didn’t materialize itself as much during the preseason games, although Vučević was in more dribble handoff situations in the final two games.

“I think it helps our offense. We don’t have to be so pick-and-roll dominated,” Vučević said. “We can run different actions and we have guys who are really good cutters on this team. I think also for them it’s learning to manipulate those two- and three-man actions when I have the ball up top or at the elbows. Just have to continue to work at it.”

The Bulls ranked 20^th with an offensive rating of 105.6.

LaVine looks elite

Despite resting one game and missing the finale with an illness that the team doesn’t think is a long-term issue, LaVine looks springy and athletic.

“I feel like myself,” LaVine said recently.

LaVine has talked about using this summer to work out rather than rehab, which he did during the 2022 offseason following a left knee scope. He also became a father that summer for the first time.

It’s showing in his finishing, where he shot 13-for-17 at the rim. Once his 3-point shot rounds into form—he shot just 31.6 percent during the preseason—he’s on track to be a lethal, three-level scorer again. In fact, Donovan wants LaVine taking upwards of the seven to eight attempts he has averaged over the past four seasons.

“I think he knows—and one of the things he spent a lot of time on this summer—is maybe missed opportunities last year on some catch-and-shoot opportunities,” Donovan said. “I think he’s trying to find ways that he can create more of those for our team because we’re a team that hasn’t taken a lot of 3s. And he’s the one guy who shoots it so effortlessly.

“I always think he’s working on things to try to get better. I think him and Vooch in pick-and-roll is something we need to keep getting better at as a team. Those two guys are invested. He definitely doesn’t have the attitude of, ‘Hey, I am who I am. I’ve arrived. I’m going to show up and get 25 a night.’ He’s trying to take another jump as a player.”

DeRozan’s scoring could drop

At first, DeRozan downplayed a question about his role changing.

“Nah, not at all,” he said. “For me, it’s just feeling it out.”

But it’s clear from Donovan’s desire to play faster that DeRozan’s isolation chances could drop.

“I think there has to be a balance,” Donovan said. “DeMar, I love working with him because he’s always about the team. And I think if we become so iso-heavy, I think he even knows, that’s only going to take us so far. In play-calling situations, I think we can go to him. But we have to get the ball downhill and spray the ball out.

“The numbers are pretty drastic. Those three guys [DeRozan, LaVine, Vučević] had either the first or second-best years of their long careers in terms of offensive efficiency and we were 24^th on offense. So our spacing has to be better. We have to get downhill and generate more offensive rebounds. We’re not going to solve everything. And DeMar has been great in understanding the bigger picture. There will be plenty of time for him. He has played in plenty of systems. He’s an elite offensive player. He has an incredibly high basketball IQ. As he says, I’ll find my way.”

In fact, that’s exactly what DeRozan said.

“You got to be ready to adjust for whenever. At the end of the day, it’s basketball. All my career, whatever is asked from me personally, I try to do that to the best of my ability and use my basketball IQ to heighten that. So it’s not a concern of mine,” DeRozan said. “I don’t overthink it. I do what’s asked of me from a team perspective.”

Stay tuned.

Defense needs to improve

The Bulls ranked 21^st with a defensive rating of 109.3.

Despite adding defensive-minded players in Carter and Craig, Donovan said he doesn’t know if the Bulls can repeat a top-five defense. But he knows he can play better at that end than what they’ve shown to this point.

“I think Torrey and Jevon are learning new terminology. And those two guys are not the problem. They’ve always been very good defenders,” Donovan said. “But last year, we got really, really good defending with five people. We’re not helping each other enough. We’re not in gaps. We’re not where we should be. We’re not protecting the rim. We’re not there for each other on a consistent enough basis. We’re getting spread out.

“For our team, we have to be in the right gaps at the right time. Alex and Lonzo (Ball), those guys blew up half the stuff that took place on the perimeter. We’re not that type of team anymore. We have to do it collectively with five. And they all have to be willing to help each other.”

For the Bulls to reach their full potential this season, helping each other at both ends will be crucial. The preseason is over. The Bulls took Friday off and then start preparing for next week’s opener. That’s when the games get real.

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The Chicago Bulls gather for media day on Monday before flying to Nashville, Tenn., for their first week of training camp.

Plenty of questions and storylines surround any NBA team. The Bulls are no exception.

Here are four related to on-the-court matters and not, say, whether or not DeMar DeRozan will be extended:

Will the offense improve?

If followers of the team had a dollar for every time somebody said “how can a team with Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vučević finish 24^th in offensive rating?” then those people might be as rich as those highly-paid players. Who command their salaries in large part for their ability to put the ball in the basket.

So how did the Bulls finish 24^th in offense? And how can they be better?

It’s well documented the Bulls represented the only NBA team that didn’t attempt at least 30 3-pointers per game last season. So part of the offensive issue is a simple math problem. In too many games, the Bulls made a similar amount of field goals as their opponent, only to lose the 3-point battle.

But it won’t just be adding Jevon Carter and Torrey Craig via free agency and letting 3-pointers fly. In general, look for the offensive philosophy to be tweaked. Sure, there will be moments where hero ball is needed, particularly in crunch time when the game slows. DeRozan’s midrange magic will still have a role.

But look for the Bulls to try to play faster in transition and attack the paint in the halfcourt, leading to spray-out passes for 3-point shots.

Beyond that, Vučević’s passing and shooting ability likely will be used more as an offensive hub, where he works at the elbow with players cutting off him. Sacramento utilizes Domantas Sabonis in similar sets.

And don’t be surprised to see DeRozan’s scoring take a small dip and his assists average rise, a la his San Antonio Spurs days.

The Bulls also ranked 26^th in free-throw attempts and must get to the line more. This is tied into the desire by the coaching staff to see more paint attacks.

Can the defense hold steady?

When a team desires to play faster offensively and attempt to take more 3-pointers, one potentially negative byproduct can be placing more pressure on the defense.

Beyond a solid coaching scheme and effort and execution from the players, one reason the Bulls fielded a top-five defense last season is they had the opportunity to set their defense so frequently. Their offensive attack and lack of offensive rebounding often led to strong floor balance and solid defensive transition.

Can they keep that up in light of their new desired offensive approach?

Carter and Craig arrive with stellar defensive reputations. Caruso, who earned his first All-Defensive spot, isn’t going anywhere. Billy Donovan never seems to get enough credit for his defensive acumen. He now has coached five top-10 defenses in his eight years in the NBA.

If the Bulls can improve their offense and have their defense either even or only slightly below last season, good things could be in store.

Is this the season Patrick Williams breaks out?

If followers of the team had a dollar for every time somebody said, “is this the season Patrick Williams . . .” Oh wait, we already used that cliché.

But Williams’ potential contrasted with his bouts with passiveness stretch all the adjectives. On a guard-heavy roster, Williams must produce.

It’s telling that, in separate interviews, management figures essentially placed the onus for this season on Williams.

“I think it’s a really important year for Patrick, one as a player and two in our locker room to kind of complement (the core),” general manager Marc Eversley said in August during an appearance on the Bulls Talk Podcast. “We’ve talked a lot about people fitting in with (LaVine, DeRozan and Vucevic). I think Patrick is going to be challenged with the same thing. But I think this year is the year where he really needs to step it up and figure it out.

“You talked about his 3-point shooting, up over 40 percent. He has shown flashes over the first three years. I want to see him show more instances of flashes, more consistency. He’s got it in him. A lot of that comes with growth off the court. And he’s starting to grow. He’s starting to get it. It’s starting to click. And when he puts it together, we might have something special.”

Williams played well in a reserve role after Donovan inserted Patrick Beverley and Caruso into the starting lineup after the All-Star break. Regardless his role, Williams needs to continue his growth as a two-way player and improve his rebounding.

Who will start?

In an appearance on WSCR-AM 670, Eversley and Artūras Karnišovas said point guard will be an open competition between Carter, Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu.

LaVine, DeRozan and Vučević are locks.

At power forward, Williams, Craig and Caruso are in the mix.

Assuming health, all of these players save for perhaps Dosunmu project to log heavy rotational minutes. The thing about Dosunmu is: Every time he seems to be counted out, he keeps coming at you. He’s relentless.

But Donovan and his coaching staff are loaded at guard and must find minutes for Carter, White, LaVine and Caruso, although the Bulls have used Caruso at power forward in the past.

The closing lineup may be more intriguing than the starting lineup. The Bulls possess a solid, 10-man rotation in Carter, LaVine, DeRozan, Williams, Vučević, Caruso, White, Craig, Dosunmu and Andre Drummond.

A big reason why the Bulls dropped from 46 to 40 wins last season is because of their poor record in clutch games, a contest that’s within five points with 5 minutes to play. They dropped from a 25-16 mark in 2021-22 in such games to 15-23 last season.

So Donovan’s closing lineup beyond LaVine, DeRozan and Vucevic will be intriguing.

Every season is intriguing in its own fashion. Let the storylines begin to play out on Monday.

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On the same day that Bulls management talked about a training camp competition to decide the starting point guard, their Central Division rivals traded one All-Star point guard for another.

The full impact on the Bulls of the Milwaukee Bucks’ bold acquisition of Damian Lillard won’t be fully known until Jrue Holiday’s ultimate landing spot is determined. But suffice to say, the Bucks took a huge swing at appeasing superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo by trading Holiday—so instrumental to their 2021 NBA championship—to the Portland Trail Blazers on Wednesday.

The Bucks, with or without Holiday, were going to be a serious contender for the Eastern Conference championship, assuming decent health. So from their perspective, acquiring Lillard is as much for Antetokounmpo’s future as this season.

But unless Holiday lands with the Miami Heat, this trade could have some minor positive benefits for the Bulls, who failed to exit the play-in tournament last season and are banking on continuity and the additions of Jevon Carter and Torrey Craig to help them ascend.

The Heat and Toronto Raptors both had designs on acquiring Lillard, a seven-time All-Star. Those are the teams the Bulls faced in the play-in tournament last season.

Obviously, the Heat’s rally in the waning minutes to beat the Bulls helped propel them to the NBA Finals, placing them in a different tier. But the Heat lost Max Strus and Gabe Vincent from that team and now didn’t land Lillard, although early speculation has them pursuing Holiday.

The Raptors—again—miss out on a potential game-changing talent via trade, which could help the Bulls’ playoff chances.

This view, obviously, is small-time and short-term stuff. The Bucks are making moves to keep their franchise centerpiece and generational talent happy and chase championships, while the Bulls are merely hoping to return to the playoffs.

The Bulls report to training camp next week with the same core of Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic and, again, without Lonzo Ball. He is expected to miss his second straight full season following his third left knee surgery, creating the current point guard battle between Carter, Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu.

The Bulls held preliminary conversations with the Trail Blazers in July on Lillard, though sources at that time indicated they didn’t gain traction. While LaVine’s future continues to land in speculation, the Bulls don’t possess much draft capital and still owe the San Antonio Spurs a protected first-round pick in 2025 from the DeRozan acquisition.

The Bulls won’t have to wait long to view the new iteration of these new-look Bucks. They open preseason play in Milwaukee on Oct. 8.

Following the 2021-22 season, the Bucks showed how wide the gap between the two Central Division rivals stood with a five-game, first-round playoff victory. Holiday averaged 16.4 points, 6.8 assists and 5 rebounds along with his stellar perimeter defense in that series.

Should the teams meet again in the 2024 NBA playoffs, it’s notable that Lillard has averaged 25.7 points and 6.2 assists over 12 career playoff series. In a league filled with starpower, the Bucks took a big swing on Wednesday.

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Even with less than two weeks until training camp, the Zach LaVine rumors won’t die. On to your questions.

Are the Bulls in the Damian Lillard sweepstakes? — Brian H.

In July, the teams at least engaged in preliminary conversations, which is detailed in this piece. And the sentiment of that piece regarding Zach LaVine still applies. Essentially, there always seems to be internal hurdles for LaVine to clear to be widely accepted as the lead option on a championship contending team. And thus, he consistently lands in trade rumors.

Or, as LaVine himself put it in a July interview with NBC Sports Bay Area’s Monte Poole before he played in the American Century Championship golf tournament: “When there’s smoke, there’s fire. Every once in awhile, you see a little bit too much smoke. I’ve been with the Bulls for seven years. I’ve had my name in trade talks. You don’t love it, but you understand the business. I’ve been traded before.”

PHLY_Sports’ Kyle Neubeck upped the ante late Wednesday by saying on his outlet’s podcast that the Bulls “might be trying to move LaVine as part of a multi-team deal just to see if they can get into the Lillard sweepstakes.” Multiple league sources indicated throughout the offseason that the Trail Blazers showed little interest in acquiring LaVine directly, mostly because he doesn’t match their rebuilding path and commitment to a young backcourt of Scoot Henderson and Anfernee Simons.

With the quiet weeks of August and early September in the rearview mirror and training camp fast approaching, the Lillard situation is intensifying. And the Trail Blazers are under no obligation to trade Lillard to his preferred destination of Miami. If the Bulls were to trade for Lillard, a contract extension for DeMar DeRozan, who shares Lillard’s agent, would certainly follow. (It may happen anyway, obviously.)

That would mean the Bulls would be tied to roughly $115 million for three players in Lillard, DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic once Lillard’s two-year, $121.8 million extension kicks in for the 2025-26 season. Trading LaVine to clear the decks for Lillard might also cost at least another asset in the form of a young player like Patrick Williams or Coby White or first-round picks. So you’d have to be all in on the idea of that Big Three, particularly since the Bulls still owe the Spurs a first-round pick from the DeRozan acquisition.

The next two weeks will be telling regarding how much the Bulls value LaVine.

With the overall depressing Chicago sports landscape these days and on a gloomy rainy day, I figured why not buy some stock in Team #Continuity and try to cheer up Bulls nation. There are plenty of reasons for optimism toward this team. They addressed their biggest weaknesses this summer with good value free agency signings and continued to work the early part of the second round for potential diamonds in the rough.  For the first time since Ball went down, the Bulls have depth at PG (if not an elite option), on the wing and at center.  Maybe this is the season that Donovan and Co. finally put together an above average offense and defense at the same time with the Big 3, and maybe the team can maintain its stellar health from last year. Maybe Pat, Coby, or Ayo make the jump this season; heck, maybe all of them do! If all of the stars align completely, is it totally impossible to see them improve by 10 games? 50-32 seems like a lofty goal and, sure, a more modest improvement (if any) is much more likely. But at the dawn of the 10th season since we last won a second-round playoff game, why not raise our collective hopes to insanely high levels? — Nick P.

I’ve made this point on our Bulls Talk Podcast. I feel like the 2021-22 Bulls won some wild “clutch” games—defined as within five points or less with 5 minutes to play—and the 2022-23 Bulls lost some wild clutch games. So I’m firmly in the camp of this team falling somewhere between those 46 and 40 victories. Since I’m generally an optimist, I’m going with 44-38. That’s assuming good health.

The Eastern Conference is filled with parity. The division got tougher, too. (I love what Indiana is building, and they have one of the most overlooked elite coaches in the game IMO.) I do agree with you that, on paper, the Bulls possess a ton of depth. Donovan and his staff possess myriad lineup options and combinations.

Which player are you most intrigued by early in the season and why? — Matt A.

Coby White. I think he’s poised to have an extremely solid season, and I’m intrigued to see his continued growth as a two-way player. By most all accounts, he had his best season last season despite posting his lowest-scoring average. He put in his offseason work. And between the organization making re-signing him a priority and his off-court personality blossoming last season, him taking another jump wouldn’t surprise.

What are the odds of Billy Donovan involving more movement in his offensive schemes? — Jason

High. How many times did you hear Donovan talk about less isolation during training camp last season? The word he opted for at the time, and later refined, was “randomness.”

All coaches seek ball and player movement. And Donovan loves playing up-tempo, too, which is why he sometimes opts for small ball. You’ll hear a lot about playing with pace during training camp this season. But also: Players resort to their strengths. And when the Bulls really need a hoop, DeRozan prefers to play slower, get to his spots and score in the midrage. So there has to be a balance.

Why not trade DeMar DeRozan and see what Patrick Williams can do with a bigger role? He will never develop as the fourth option on a team. I know DeMar provides value in a lot of ways, but his game is outdated. He’s a midrange shooter in a 3-point shooting league and he plays no defense. We need to see what Patrick can do before we give up on him too early and watch him flourish like Lauri Markkanen is now doing in Utah. Your thoughts? — Emir M.

I’m not a believer that these scenarios fall in the either/or department. Some do. I don’t.

I thought Williams developed quite a bit last season, which, essentially, was his second season given the significant injury which clouded his second season. He can develop with DeRozan on the roster. And, in fact, DeRozan helps with his development by taking him under his wing for offseason workouts and the like.

Now, whether to trade DeRozan or not is a separate discussion to me. And if the Bulls are faltering at the February 2024 deadline, I have to believe this iteration of the roster will finally be tweaked.

Do you think it’s better for Patrick Williams’ development if he plays mostly with the second unit where he has more offensive freedom? I see Torrey Craig being a perfect fit with the first unit and he knows how to navigate not being the main option and playing his role.  I believe Patrick’s preferred play style his him on ball more. — Victor D.

This, to me, is one of the biggest storylines of training camp. I thought Billy Donovan and his staff expertly managed Williams’ move to the second unit last season, and I think it benefitted Williams and the team.

I agree with you that Craig is one of those “seamless fit” players who would serve as a wonderful complementary piece with the first unit. But he also will be solid no matter what role he fills.

Is it important for Williams’ confidence and growth to have the prestige of starting? This is a question I’m sure the coaching staff has asked and answered in advance of camp. One possible scenario would be to start Williams but stagger his minutes so that he’s also playing a solid portion of his minutes with the second unit and against opposing second units. Stay tuned.

Can the Bulls trade Lonzo Ball this season? Will they even consider it? — Dan G.

Before answering this intriguing question, let’s make sure to acknowledge the obligatory fact that everybody is pulling for Ball to make a comeback. Injuries are the worst.

With that out of the way, from a business perspective, let’s say that Ball is unfortunately unable to return. He has a $21.4 million player option for 2024-25 that he surely will exercise. But if his injury is declared career-ending, the Bulls can apply to have that salary wiped from their salary cap and luxury tax sheets. Do they utilize this to their advantage or look to use his soon-to-be-expired contract as an asset in a trade, almost like salary cap relief? My sense is nothing happens this season because Ball is working hard to try to return.

The Bulls still don’t have a true point guard and we know the significance of Lonzo Ball for this team when he was healthy. They were one of the top teams in the league. I love Coby White and think he’s going to have a breakout year. I also like the Jevon Carter signing. But they aren’t true point guards. Do you think the Bulls would consider using the $10 million exception they have available from Lonzo’s injury on Kyle Lowly should he become available once Miami trades for Damian Lillard? Does that $10 million count against the cap? I feel like Lowry would be a great fit playing 25 minutes a game on this team that is guard-heavy but light on point guards. — Muly S.

Lowry is due $29.7 million this season. So several steps, including a buyout, would have to happen for this scenario even to be considered.

Separately, that the $10 million indeed counts against the salary cap isn’t the issue because it’s called a disabled player exception for a reason. You can use exceptions to surpass the cap, which the Bulls have. But the salary of whatever player is potentially added counts for luxury tax purposes, and therein lies the rub. The Bulls, by virtue of using a portion of their midlevel exception to sign Carter, are hard capped at $172.3 million. Currently, they have roughly $165.5 million of committed salary. So as currently constructed, they only can use a shade under $7 million of the disabled player exception, which is just above the remaining portion of the midlevel exception they possess.

What is Billy Donovan’s biggest challenge, maintaining good defensive performance or improving attacking production? — Bulls Nation Brasil

I think it’s the latter. The Bulls finished fifth in defensive rating last season and added tough-minded defenders in Jevon Carter and Torrey Craig. They finished 24th in offensive rating, which shouldn’t happen for a team with such gifted offensive players. Carter and Craig, on paper, add shooting and smart, quick decision-making offensively. But it obviously doesn’t fall on just them. The offense needs to score off defense and not become so predictable in the halfcourt setting.

What are the “stakes” of this season? What outcomes would be considered a success and what would be considered a failure—both in your eyes and the organization’s? — Steve P.

I dislike disappointing you, but my stakes are centered on mundane things like flights running on time and the like. But obviously you mean from a team performance standpoint, so here goes.

In my eyes, a successful season would be a top-six playoff seed and winning a playoff series. This isn’t a championship team. So while that may seem like modest expectations, they represent this team reaching its full potential to me. A failure would be another non-playoff season.

I look forward to hearing what the organization’s goals are on Media Day. Last season, management said it expected improvement over the previous season. That didn’t happen. So how does management frame this season? We’ll find out soon enough.

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The NBA Board of Governors on Wednesday passed a Player Participation Policy, aimed to limit excessive load management and ensure star players appear in nationally televised and in-season tournament games.

To which Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic collectively shrugged—symbolically, of course. The Bulls’ current and former All-Stars, collectively, long have yawned at the idea of load management.

“I hate missing games,” DeRozan said during the 2021-22 season after a late-season game in which, indeed, the coaching staff finally convinced him to take off one game.

Vucevic is coming off playing all 82 games for the first time in his 12-year career but has played 73 or more games six times.

DeRozan has two 82-game seasons, one 80-game and 10 seasons of at least 74 games over his 14-game career.

And LaVine not only played through a knee injury during a contract season in 2021-22 but played a career-high 2,768 minutes over 77 games last season and didn’t miss a game from November to April following an early-season maintenance plan to address his offseason left knee surgery.

You can dissect the pros and cons of the Bulls’ Big Three from sunup to sundown. But the trio scores unassailably high marks for availability and desire to play.

“I’ve missed enough games already,” LaVine said early in his Bulls’ tenure.

This is a nod to LaVine overcoming a February 2017 left ACL tear, which made his decision to play through his nagging left knee pain—during a 2021-22 contract season—as the Bulls chased their first playoff berth in five years all the more admirable.

DeRozan, who turned 34 last month, actually qualifies for one exception and almost two because of his age and career workload. While he by one year misses the exception of being 35 on opening night, his 1,031 career games and 35.471 career minutes allow him to receive a pre-approved miss of a back-to-back game as long as the Bulls apply a week prior to the game.

But given how much DeRozan resisted the organization’s attempts to get him to take one game off late in the 2021-22 season until he finally acquiesced, it’s a safe bet this loophole goes unused. DeRozan also played through a nagging thigh injury last season.

The NBA already had instituted a minimum games played requirement for players to be eligible for most valuable player, All-NBA, Defensive Player of the Year, Most Improved Player or All-Defensive team honors. Players need to appear in at least 65 games or have played in at least 62 and 85 percent of his team’s games before suffering a season-ending injury.

So participation and curbing the practice of star players missing games is top of mind in the league offices.

Last season, Luka Dončić missed the Dallas Mavericks’ lone trip to the United Center with a strained right quadriceps, leaving a wake of crestfallen fans wearing his jersey disappointed. While Dončić’s minor injury would’ve precluded this new policy from applying to him, seeing those disappointed fans is a reminder of the impact these stars can have.

It’s what made Michael Jordan’s awareness so great. He wouldn’t even take off preseason games, some played in remote, neutral sites, because he understood the obligation of appearing for fans.

That was a different era, one where star players routinely logged 82-game seasons. In this era of load management, the approach of LaVine, DeRozan and Vucevic should be lauded.

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Training camp begins next month. Barring an unexpected move, the Chicago Bulls’ roster is set.

But management’s work never ends.

And DeMar DeRozan is eligible for a contract extension.

“His first two years here, he’s been terrific. He’s been probably one or two of our best players, All-NBA. He continues to work at a rate that you would want a veteran to work at,” general manager Marc Eversley said last month during an appearance on the Bulls Talk Podcast. “We talked to him (in August)—(coach) Billy (Donovan), AK (executive vice president Arturas Karnisovas) and I—just about the season, the outlook, what are our goals and what we’re looking to accomplish. He’s completely aligned with what we want to do.

“He’s the ultimate leader, the ultimate teammate. He takes all the young guys under his wing. He’s been terrific.”

So how much is that worth? And is re-signing DeRozan the most prudent path forward for the organization?

Whether or not the Bulls overpaid to acquire DeRozan, parting with draft capital on top of signing him to a three-year, $82 million deal, it’s indisputable that DeRozan’s play has made the financial part of the contract reasonable.

DeRozan has averaged 26.2 points, 5 assists and 4.9 rebounds over his two seasons in Chicago. He has made two All-Star teams and earned one All-NBA designation. He has shot 50.4 percent and proved durable, playing in 150 games, all starts.

Beyond numbers, his quiet leadership and ability to take young players under his wing has resonated throughout the organization. Having turned 34 last month, his work ethic and old-school, midrange game suggest his NBA life will age gracefully.

From his perspective, coming to the Bulls after a much-publicized dalliance with his hometown Los Angeles Lakers didn’t pan out has served as a renaissance for his potential Hall of Fame career.

“Man, Chicago’s been everything for me, honestly. I can’t even find the words of appreciation and love that this organization and these fans have given to me. Just allowing me to be me, allowing me to be the person I always knew I was careerwise and embracing it. It’s been amazing,” DeRozan said after the season ended. “It’s a hell of a story especially with the route I took being in San Antonio three years. Coming here and just kind of helping this organization and this city get back on the map.”

When the Bulls originally acquired DeRozan via that sign-and-trade transaction with the San Antonio Spurs, it appeared management viewed this roster iteration as a three-year window. Particularly with the way the Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso contracts are structured.

But since then, management has signed Zach LaVine to a maximum contract extension and re-signed Nikola Vucevic to a three-year, $60 million deal. They have doubled down on continuity.

Thus, given that they almost certainly will be operating as an over-the-cap team next offseason, a strong argument can be made to re-sign DeRozan. But at what price?

DeRozan is eligible for a four-year extension worth roughly $179 million. Given that he has outplayed his current deal on the court and represented the Bulls so professionally off it, his agent, Aaron Goodwin, would certainly be reasonable asking for that max.

But the Bulls, who value DeRozan extremely highly, are obviously under no obligation to sign him to that. His current deal represents roughly 21 percent of the salary cap. With the cap rising, an extension similar to the one Khris Middleton signed with the Bucks—three years, $102 million—would be roughly the same percentage of the salary cap.

Would that be enough for DeRozan? Or is there middle ground between the two?

If the Bulls were going to pivot off this core, the February 2023 trade deadline seemed like the ideal time to do so. Instead, the Bulls chased a play-in spot and then re-signed Vucevic, Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu this offseason.

It’s not like letting DeRozan walk after this season makes the Bulls flush with salary cap space. Re-signing him to a deal that aligns with the life of Vucevic’s contract is one path. Waiting to see how the Bulls are faring between now and the February 2024 deadline is another.

Stay tuned. Management’s work never ends.

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It’s late July, which means there shouldn’t be questions as the NBA prepares for its brief hiatus. But there’s that unresolved Damian Lillard story, James Harden’s consistent wanderlust and the nutty—compliment intended—Bulls fan’s never-ending worry. So here’s a mailbag.

Do you think the Bulls, who are a massively profitable organization and typically lead the NBA in attendance, will pay the luxury tax this season? — James R.

Nothing like coming out of the chute hot.

I think the Bulls will begin the season under the luxury tax and possibly enter it during the season if the season is going well. By my educated estimate, they sit roughly $2.4 million under the $165,294,000 luxury tax threshold with two roster spots available. This is assuming they waive Carlik Jones’ non-guaranteed salary.

I suppose there’s a small chance Jones is retained. But given that his $1.9 million salary is roughly the same as a veteran minimum exception, I’d expect a frontcourt player to be signed. Perhaps they sign two players to veteran minimum exceptions and go over the tax slightly to begin the season. But given the organization’s history of only paying the tax once, I’d be surprised.

I see the more likely scenario as entering the season with a 14-player roster and then possibly entering the tax during the season if things are going well and the right opportunity presents. The Bulls still have roughly half of the $12.4 million non-taxpayer mid-level, the $4.5 biannual and the $10.2 million disabled player exception for Lonzo Ball at their disposal.

Artūras Karnišovas said on draft night that he’d be comfortable presenting to ownership a case to enter the luxury tax for a contender. Bulls president and CEO Michael Reinsdorf told NBC Sports Chicago in February 2022 that he “absolutely” would pay the tax for a title-contending team. But he also added his usual context at the time.

“All you have to do is go back and look at the last number of championship teams, how many of them were in the luxury tax? With the nature of the NBA and having a soft cap, if you want to compete for championships, you have to be willing to spend into the tax,” Michael Reinsdorf said in an appearance on the Bulls Talk podcast. “I think most people will tell you, ‘I don’t want to spend into the tax if we’re not competing for championships, if we’re not good enough. I don’t want to be the 8th seed or out of the playoffs and go into the luxury tax.’”

And the Bulls were the 10^th seed last season and received the league distribution for non-tax teams of roughly $15.1 million.

What do you think the depth chart is? — Frank K.

I see Billy Donovan and his staff using a 10-player rotation of Jevon Carter, Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, Torrey Craig, Nikola Vucevic, Alex Caruso, Coby White, Patrick Williams, Ayo Dosunmu and Andre Drummond. Perhaps if Derrick Jones Jr. returns or Rudy Gay or somebody is added, he cracks the rotation at times over Drummond based on matchups. Regardless, Donovan has serious depth, which is why I also think they’d be comfortable entering the season with 14 players and staying under the tax for now.

Who starts at point guard and power forward are the biggest questions. You could make a strong case that following the blueprint of last season, in which Patrick Beverley and Alex Caruso started down the stretch, would be prudent. In that scenario, Torrey Craig would start at power forward and either Caruso or Jevon Carter would start at point guard, keeping Coby White and Patrick Williams together with that second unit. But I think this is Williams’ season to flourish. I see him in the starting lineup.

So my guess is: Carter, Dosunmu, Caruso at point guard; LaVine, White at shooting guard; DeRozan, Craig, Caruso at small forward, Williams, Caruso, Craig at power forward and Vucevic, Drummond at center.

It’s the Bulls fan from Anguilla, checking in. I’m actually excited about the direction of the Bulls’ offseason, and I’d love to get your thoughts on what has transpired. We signed the first two players whom you presented to the fans as options in your column, and that is awesome. I was already a fan of Carter and Craig. I feel like we’re finally building a team that fits the NBA in 2023, and we can’t understate the significance of signing two players who made real contributions to championship-level teams. The experience and toughness they will bring is invaluable. How do you feel about this current Bulls roster on paper? Are we better? — Lennox B.

The consistent use of “we” makes me wonder if this was ghost-written by Artūras. But I digress.

As I said in the previous answer, Bulls have solid and deep 10-player rotation. Craig and Carter are fantastic signings in my opinion, even without factoring in their manageable contracts. Both are tough, defensive-minded players who can shoot. Plus, both are good and quick decision-makers offensively. They will make the offense run smoothly.

The only quibble may be that they’re the kind of additions title-contending teams make to put them over the top. They definitely make the Bulls better, but the ultimate success will still come down to DeRozan, LaVine and Vucevic impacting winning more. All three of those players had very good individual seasons and the Bulls still missed the playoffs. But Craig and Carter also are the type of frontline role players who make stars better.

I’d like to see the Bulls add some more size with their final signing.

What are realistic expectations for Patrick Williams? I look at players like Wendell Carter Jr. and Lauri Markkanen, who I think the organization gave up on too quickly, and wonder if people are writing him off too early? He has all the physical tools to be a very good player in this league. — Scott D.

Does he have the mental tools? That’s what the organization has worked with him on—to develop a more aggressive mindset. Williams is very introspective and openly talked about his difficulty playing alongside players who need the ball like DeRozan, LaVine and Vucevic. But you can still be aggressive in those situations—cutting with purpose, sprinting in transition, attacking the offensive boards at the right time, setting good screens, making quick and proper decisions on attacking closeouts.

I thought Donovan made a great move bringing him off the bench. Now, the trick is to keep that mentality but exhibit it more consistently with the starters, even if the shots aren’t as numerous. But I agree with your overall point: He turns 22 in August. It’s way too early to fully judge him. Players develop at different speeds.

One quick correction on Markkanen: He wanted out and requested a trade. Now perhaps that’s semantical because the organization didn’t value or use him properly in his mind, leading to his request. But the Bulls would’ve been fine bringing him back the season they traded him to Cleveland, just at their price, not his.

I think the Bulls made a huge mistake not keeping Jevon Freeman-Liberty. Here’s a homegrown product who clearly displayed his shooting and leadership ability in summer league after playing well for the Windy City Bulls and they couldn’t even find a two-way contract for him? — Steve K.

We covered this topic in the latest edition of the Bulls Talk podcast, although I erroneously listed the guard as 6 feet, 2 inches when he’s actually 6-4. My apologies. You can listen to the podcast at the link below.

But his legit size only underscores the point I made on the podcast. I think Freeman-Liberty displayed NBA skill. And I hope he has a long career ahead of him. But notice that the Toronto Raptors didn’t sign him to an NBA deal, either. Let’s see how he and Onuralp Bitim play this season before making final judgements. As has been stated ad nauseum, the Bulls are loaded with guard. Bitim has a little more size and also displayed the ability to shoot it during overseas professional play.

There always seems to be a latest flavor of the day. I remember hearing that the Bulls should start Carlik Jones at point guard last year before they signed Patrick Beverley. Now, Jones apparently is forgotten while Freeman-Liberty is the focus. The Bulls absolutely may have erred by letting JFL walk; I’m just not ready to say they have until I see how he and Bitim handle their new opportunities.

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On paper, the Chicago Bulls’ regular-season rotation is set. The roster is not.

Currently, the Bulls have 12 guaranteed contracts and, in Justin Lewis and Adama Sonogo, two of three two-way contracts filled. Ayo Dosunmu remains a restricted free agent who, even if he does return, projects to land deep on the depth chart.

So what moves do the Bulls have left? How much do they have left to spend? And what targets remain? Here’s a deep-into-the-offseason primer:

What is the depth chart?

The coaching staff and player performance will determine whether or not Jevon Carter or Coby White is the starting point guard. Same goes for Patrick Williams, Torrey Craig or Alex Caruso at power forward. Regardless of who starts, all five will play prominent roles.

Here’s one stab at the Bulls’ rotation for the 12 players currently under contract. Ball, who isn’t expected to play this season, isn’t listed. But his $20.4 million counts for salary cap and luxury tax purposes.

What is the Bulls’ remaining spending power?

The Bulls used roughly half of the $12.4 million non-taxpayer midlevel exception to sign Carter, whose three-year deal starts at roughly $6.2 million. That means they still have roughly $6.2 million of that exception to spend.

They also have the biannual exception of $4.5 million should they choose to use it, as well as veteran minimum exceptions. And the NBA granted them a $10.2 million disabled player exception for Ball’s loss.

However, the Bulls face a hard cap of $172.35 million. And the franchise only has paid the luxury tax penalty once in its history; that threshold is $165.3 million.

Currently, the Bulls sit at just over $155 million committed to 12 players. Dosunmu’s qualifying offer is $5.2 million. White has $1.3 million of potential incentives in his deal.

Assuming Carlik Jones’ non-guaranteed deal is either waived or re-worked into a possible two-way deal, the Bulls could stay under the tax line pretty easily. But on NBA draft night, executive vice president Arturas Karnisovas said he’d feel comfortable presenting to ownership a plan to enter the tax for a contender.

It’s possible the Bulls round out the roster by staying under the tax line and keeping the disabled player exception as a potential roster-building tool during the season. Any player signed or acquired with that exception must be on a one-year deal.

Even if that exception is used, the Bulls can’t exceed $172.35 million in team salary.

What targets remain?

The Bulls have a guard-heavy roster, particularly if Dosunmu returns or, in a surprise, Jones is kept or Javon Freeman-Liberty is signed to something other than the last two-way deal. They need forwards.

Obviously, at this point of the offseason, the pickings are slim. Old friend Derrick Jones Jr., who declined his player option, remains unsigned. So does Javonte Green.

P.J. Washington, who is a restricted free agent, and Christian Wood are probably the biggest names left. JaMychal Green is available. So is Kelly Oubre Jr.

Whoever is eventually signed, expect the roster to be more balanced.

Will Dosunmu return?

It’s telling that the Bulls moved quickly to re-sign White, the more expensive of their free-agent guard options, while taking the wait-and-see option with Dosunmu. Both were restricted free agents. Management also added Carter on the first night of free agency.

Playing the long game in restricted free agency is very typical. By extending the qualifying offer, the Bulls own matching rights. Dosunmu also could be used as a sign-and-trade chip to add size.

Even if Dosunmu does return, he’s projected to be the fifth guard behind Zach LaVine, Carter, White and Caruso. But his situation actually is quite simple: The Bulls can afford to wait to see if he gets an offer sheet before deciding whether or not to match and, in lieu of that, can sign him to a team-friendly, longer-term deal, target a sign-and-trade opportunity or bring him back on the qualifying offer.

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The Chicago Bulls concluded their NBA Summer League schedule on Saturday afternoon with a 90-85 victory over the Washington Wizards.

The Bulls, led by Javon Freeman-Liberty’s 24 points, return from Las Vegas with a 3-2 mark. Here are four takeaways from their overall experience:

Dalen Terry offers mixed bag

On the plus side, the second-year guard fared well in a wide variety of defensive assignments, using his length and activity to be a persistent nuisance. He posted nine steals overall.

After a rocky first half in his first game, Terry also displayed prowess in making solid reads off screens, including an ability to make crosscourt passes off the dribble with his left hand. The issue is that this skill is somewhat offset by his lack of self-creation.

Along those lines, with Terry’s relative inability to beat defenders off the dribble on his own, he needs to become a more reliable shooter. Terry needed a strong finish with a 7-for-10 showing against the Wizards just to finish summer league at 33.8 percent shooting.

That included 34.8 percent from 3-point range. And while Terry does have potential as a connecting piece, if he can’t improve his shooting, it’s hard to envision him getting regular-season rotation minutes.

Julian Phillips has potential

Perhaps the most impressive feature about the rookie is that, after sitting out the first game because his contract hadn’t been finalized, he looked overwhelmed in his debut—and then responded in two straight games before a largely invisible and foul-plagued finale.

While Phillips’ statistics of 8.8 points and 3 rebounds don’t jump off the page, he showed an ability to attack the offensive glass and impact games with his athleticism. The Bulls finished 28^th in offensive rebounding last season, and Phillips’ knack for finding the ball, not to mention his 43-inch vertical, project to perhaps address this.

The issue, of course, is projecting minutes for the second-round, draft night acquisition. Coach Billy Donovan has at least nine rotational spots basically set in Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, Nikola Vucevic, Patrick Williams, Alex Caruso, Coby White, Jevon Carter, Torrey Craig and Andre Drummond.

But executive vice president Artūras Karnišovas said on draft night that Phillips “can step in right now and probably defend on our level.” And several times, he disrupted passing lanes with his 7-foot wingspan.

Also, for all the rightful draft-night consternation over Phillips’ 23.9 percent 3-point shooting, his form looked solid as he shot 44.4 percent on nine attempts from that distance. Just as important, Phillips didn’t hesitate and took the right shots.

Adama Sanogo justifies two-way contract

The Bulls moved quickly to sign the Connecticut big man to a two-way contract after he went undrafted. While averaging 10.2 points on 65.7 percent shooting and 8.4 rebounds, Sanogo displayed good footwork and a high IQ for solid positioning at both ends.

And while he’ll need to improve his shooting, he has a nice touch around the basket, often off solid rolls to the rim. Sanogo also has good hands.

Javon Freeman-Liberty needs a contract

There’s an age-old qualifier at this time of year that “it’s only summer league.” But it’s hard to deny averaging 21.2 points on 49.3 percent shooting, including 46.2 percent from 3-point range.

Simply put, the Whitney Young and DePaul product can shoot. And whether it’s the Bulls’ final two-way contract or perhaps even a minimum NBA deal somewhere, Freeman-Liberty has given himself a shot by making plenty of them.

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First, the Chicago Bulls retained Coby White, the one who sank 128 of 344 3-point attempts last season, good for 37.2 percent.

Then, the Bulls added Proviso West product Jevon Carter, the guard who made 142 of 377 3-point attempts last season. That’s a tidy 42.1 percent.

The roster isn’t finalized after the first day of NBA free agency. But for a team intent on improving its shooting, management got off to a good start.

Depending on the status of Ayo Dosunmu’s qualifying offer and pending restricted free agency, the Bulls are at 11 or 12 guaranteed contracts. They still need to add size—-unless they want to grind Alex Caruso, who suddenly is apparently a full-time power forward, into dust—and perhaps another shooter.

But Carter’s pending addition will do nothing to hurt a top-five defense—he’s strong at the point of attack, particularly with screen navigation—while adding shooting.

For all the offseason emphasis on addressing shooting, management and the coaching staff haven’t forgotten about defense. In fact, league sources said preliminary talks on a Caruso-for-Tyus Jones trade last season didn’t advance before the Memphis Grizzlies traded Jones to Washington in the three-team deal that netted the Celtics Kristaps Porzingis.

One can see Carter and Caruso trying to replicate the point-of-attack defense that turns into offense that the Bulls briefly had when Lonzo Ball was healthy. Sources said the Bulls haven’t ruled out applying for a disabled player exception at some point for Ball, whom executive vice president Artūras Karnišovas said isn’t expected to play this season.

So it’s possible they could add a roughly $10 million exception to their roster planning at an unknown time, although, with Carter’s imminent signing, they are hard-capped at $172 million.

Could they get creative with a sign-and-trade for Grant Williams? He’d be an ideal addition. But if the Caruso-for-Jones talks were a non-starter, finding the right assets to appease Boston could prove difficult.

It’s possible—again, depending on Dosunmu’s status—the Bulls round out the roster with minimum exceptions. Depending on who those might be, that would essentially mean management swapped out Patrick Beverley for Carter for a 40-42 team that didn’t exit the play-in.

That would certainly mean there are internal expectations for another jump from White, not to mention Patrick Williams and even Dalen Terry. But they’re not the stars. Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic are.

While trade rumors never seem to leave LaVine, the Bulls’ asking price always has been and remains high. NBC Sports Chicago reported in February that the New York Knicks never were a serious suitor and reported on NBA Draft night that they aren’t considered one moving forward over injury history and contract size concerns.

It’s certainly trending towards giving this core one more shot. Perhaps a pivot would be more seriously considered at next February’s trade deadline if the season hasn’t borne fruit by then.

Those decisions are down the road for now. Free agency is just getting started. By landing Carter, the Bulls are on the board—with more work to be done.

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You hear it from many NBA executives, including the Chicago Bulls’ Artūras Karnišovas. There are three ways to improve a team—draft, trades, free agency.

The first avenue concluded for 2023 on Thursday night when the Bulls traded into a second-round pick for Tennessee freshman Julian Phillips.

The second, at least on a larger scale like moving, say, Zach LaVine or DeMar DeRozan, didn’t happen—and hasn’t happened since management’s flurry of activity in August 2021 that netted DeRozan and Lonzo Ball in sign-and-trade acquisitions and packaged Lauri Markkanen in a three-team deal for Derrick Jones Jr. and a lottery-protected, first-round pick.

Could it happen still this offseason?

The third route of free agency begins June 30. And Karnišovas exuded confidence when asked what message he’d like to send to any fans disappointed by the Bulls’ relative lack of inaction since August 2021.

“They will have to wait until free agency to see what we look like after that,” he said.

So what’s next? Despite widespread pre-draft speculation, no serious trade talks centered on LaVine materialized.

Karnišovas did say late Thursday that the Bulls, who aren’t expecting Lonzo Ball to play this coming season, need to address the point guard position. Both the Orlando Magic and Washington Wizards currently own a surplus of guards.

One issue for the Bulls should they want to pursue the trade route with either of these two teams is they don’t possess many mid-tier contracts. Orlando’s Jalen Suggs, for instance, is due to make $7.2 million, while Washington’s Monte Morris owns a $9.8 million contract.

Karnišovas did say he will extend qualifying offers to guards Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu. So perhaps the Bulls plan to tackle the point guard position by committee internally if both those players are retained.

It’s almost certain the Bulls will address their lack of 3-point shooting via free agency. Both Karnišovas and general manager Marc Eversley cited the deficiency often in their Thursday night news conference, talking up new director of player development hire Peter Patton, who starred at Loyola Academy and DePaul, in the process. Patton is a well-regarded shooting coach.

Max Strus, Jordan Clarkson, Jevon Carter, Seth Curry, Torrey Craig, Alec Burks and Yuta Watanabe are some shooters who either will or may be available. The Bulls have the midlevel, biannual and veteran’s minimum exceptions at their disposal.

A team that enjoyed relatively robust health and still missed the playoffs at 40-42 needs improvement. Management, while still believing in much of its assembled talent, acknowledged as much late Thursday night.

“We have a lot of work to do,” Karnišovas said. “You’re obviously writing about how much work we need to do. People are telling me we need to get to it. So we will this week. We’re going to address our stuff in free agency.”

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With one word, Chicago Bulls executive vice president Artūras Karnišovas flipped normal expectations upside down Thursday night.

“Yes,” Karnišovas said, when asked if he believes he has the green light from ownership to enter luxury tax territory.

The Bulls only have paid the luxury tax once in franchise history. During the 2013-14 season in which Derrick Rose suffered a season-ending meniscus injury, they traded All-Star forward Luol Deng to the Cleveland Cavaliers to exit the tax.

Last season, Bulls president and chief operating officer Michael Reinsdorf told NBC Sports Chicago that he’d be willing to pay the tax for a championship contending team.

“With the nature of the NBA and having a soft cap, if you want to compete for championships, you have to be willing to spend into the tax,” Michael Reinsdorf said during a February 2022 appearance on the Bulls Talk Podcast. “I think most people will tell you, ‘I don’t want to spend into the tax if we’re not competing for championships, if we’re not good enough. I don’t want to be the 8th seed or out of the playoffs and go into the luxury tax.’

“But when it comes to a team like this (the Bulls), and if we can take the necessary steps next year that allow us to compete for a championship, then for sure we’ll go into the tax. It’s part of the nature of the NBA.”

But Karnišovas intimated that he’d feel comfortable asking ownership to enter tax territory this offseason following a 40-42 campaign in which the Bulls didn’t qualify for the playoffs.

“Jerry (Reinsdorf) and Michael have been always open with me to go into luxury tax if our team is competitive—you know, top-four, top-six in the East,” Karnišovas said. “If there are players in free agency that can improve our team and we’re competitive, we’ll retain our free agents.”

Indeed, retaining their own free agents, as Karnišovas reiterated he’d like to do on Thursday night, is what pushes the Bulls near the projected $165 million tax line even before using salary cap exceptions to improve the team.

Karnišovas confirmed the Bulls will extend qualifying offers to Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu, making them restricted free agents and allowing the Bulls to match any offers they receive.

“I think they’re developing young players,” Karnišovas said of the guards. “So we’re going to address that in free agency.”

Re-signing Vucevic remains an organizational priority, with Karnišovas calling it a “work in progress.”

“We’re going to continue talking to Vooch and his representation,” he said.

The Bulls also need to address shooting and perhaps the point guard position. If the Bulls re-sign their free agents and use the midlevel and biannual exceptions, they will enter luxury tax territory. Keep in mind that penalties only are assessed on teams that are still past the tax threshold after the season.

Karnišovas was asked what message he’d like to send fans following Thursday’s NBA Draft, which only netted the Bulls a second-round pick in Julian Phillips: “They will have to wait until free agency to see what we look like after that.”

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Jett Howard’s father, Juwan, grew up in Chicago, but that’s not the Michigan guard’s only connection to the city.

Howard’s selection by the Orlando Magic with the 11^th pick in Thursday’s NBA Draft placed the final name in and closed the books on the Chicago Bulls’ bold acquisition of Nikola Vucevic back in March 2021.

While there’s obviously no guarantee the Bulls would’ve drafted either of Howard or 2021 Magic pick Franz Wagner, the full trade is now this: Vucevic and the since-traded Al-Farouq Aminu for Otto Porter Jr., Carter Jr., Howard and Wagner.

So now that the trade has a final name, how does Artūras Karnišovas view it?

“I think that transaction when we brought Vooch here showed everyone that we’re trying to win,” Karnišovas said. “I think once we brought Vooch, we brought in DeMar (DeRozan), we brought Alex Caruso, we brought ‘Zo (Lonzo Ball). That started trying to improve our team and trying to be competitive. I thought that deal worked out pretty well for us.”

The Bulls did avoid completely sitting out of the draft for the first time since 2005. After forfeiting their second-round pick as penalty for early free-agency contact with Lonzo Ball in 2021, they acquired the draft rights to Tennessee freshman wing Julian Phillips at the 35^th pick in a trade with the Washington Wizards.

That marked management’s first trade since their flurry of moves in August 2021 that netted DeRozan and Ball via sign-and-trade acquisitions, Derrick Jones Jr. in a three-team trade with the Cavaliers and Trail Blazers that sent out Lauri Markkanen and the free-agency signing of Alex Caruso.

Between August 2021 and Thursday, executive vice president Artūras Karnišovas, general manager Marc Eversley and their staff drafted Dalen Terry in 2022, signed veterans Goran Dragic and Andre Drummond in 2022 free agency and added Tristan Thompson in 2022 and Patrick Beverley in 2023 from the buyout markets for stretch runs that have produced one playoff appearance in 2022.

The focus now shifts not only to re-signing Vucevic but to free agency, which opens July 1. The Bulls face decisions on restricted free agents Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu and also want to add shooting.

“We’re trying to change our shooting profile,” Karnišovas said. “Being last in the league in rate from 3 and 3-point makes, we’re going to try to address that in the offseason.”

At their disposal will be the midlevel and biannual exceptions, although Karnišovas, Eversley and their staff face a tough needle to thread given the franchise’s history of avoiding the luxury tax. Even with that figure’s projection coming in $3 million higher at $165 million and Derrick Jones Jr. declining his player option, the Bulls project to be near the tax if they re-sign Vucevic and White.

So how does Karnišovas expect to approach free agency? He sounded confident, even answering “yes” when asked if he believes he has the green light from ownership to enter luxury tax territory.

Karnišovas said the Bulls looked at some opportunities to acquire a first-round pick, although sources indicated no serious talks centered on Zach LaVine. In fact, sources said not only did the Bulls and Knicks not seriously discuss a LaVine trade at the February deadline, the Knicks aren’t considered a trading partner in the future because of concerns over LaVine’s injury history and contract.

The Bulls are moving forward with LaVine for now, as well as much of their core.

“I think we all were disappointed the way the season ended. Zach was one of the guys who was very disappointed with the way it ended in Miami. He went into offseason to get better,” Karnišovas said. “He’s already working out with Ty Abbott, (our) player development (coach) in LA. He’s trying to get better.”

That’s management’s goal for the Bulls too.

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The NBA Draft is Thursday, and the Chicago Bulls currently own no picks.

They also project to operate as an over-the-salary-cap team this offseason, meaning that, barring a trade, they’d have to use the midlevel and biannual exceptions in free agency to upgrade the roster.

During his end-of-season media availability session in mid-April, executive vice president Artūras Karnišovas cited management’s 2021 offseason, in which they landed both Lonzo Ball and DeMar DeRozan via sign-and-trade acquisitions before signing Alex Caruso via the midlevel exception, as an example of how he has creatively improved the roster before.

This week will start to provide some clarity to Karnišovas’ vision for this offseason. The rest will come when free agency begins July 1.

Here’s a look at some of Thursday’s possible scenarios and what they could mean.

The Bulls make no moves

During that mid-April media session, Karnišovas expressed the desire to re-sign Nikola Vucevic, Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu. Even with Wednesday’s news that the projected luxury tax threshold could be $165 million instead of $162 million, this could be a tough needle to thread.

But buying into the first round and adding a guaranteed rookie-scale contract without a trade could make that task even tougher. Even using extremely team-friendly and generously low predictions of $19 million for Vucevic and $12 million for White, the Bulls would be up against the luxury tax line by using the midlevel exception and filling out the roster with veteran minimum deals.

And that’s not accounting for Dosunmu, although the Bulls picked up some potential wiggle room when The Athletic’s Shams Charania reported on Wednesday that Derrick Jones Jr. will decline his $3.3 million player option, a reversal of what he said publicly in mid-April. Andre Drummond’s decision awaits, although he, too, has said publicly he plans to pick up his player option.

Ball’s $20 million of dead cap space impacts the franchise greatly.

The franchise only has paid the tax once, and Bulls president and chief executive officer Michael Reinsdorf told NBC Sports Chicago in 2022 that he’d do so for a championship contender. The Bulls are coming off a 40-42 season in which they finished 10th in the Eastern Conference and lost to Miami in the play-in tournament.

Dalen Terry, the Bulls’ first-round pick in 2022, barely played during his rookie season. If the Bulls don’t make a selection on Thursday, even more focus will land on Terry.

The Bulls also would then need to address shooting and perhaps the point-guard position in free agency.

The Bulls make a major move

Most speculation has centered on Zach LaVine, who has four seasons left on the maximum contract he signed just last offseason.

Karnišovas said in mid-April that a full rebuild “is not on our minds.” A case can be made that trading LaVine and re-signing Vucevic and perhaps even extending DeMar DeRozan would fall into the “retool” rather than “rebuild” category.

Semantics aside, LaVine represents the Bulls’ biggest trade asset. In an offensive-minded league, LaVine remains one of the game’s elite and extremely efficient scorers.

If he’s dealt, his return absolutely must be maximized, likely with a strong focus on recouping the draft capital spent to acquire DeRozan and Vucevic as well as netting either an established starter or intriguing young talent.

The Bulls keep core intact but acquire a pick

This would suggest the Bulls have identified a draft prospect they believe can address a need more than perhaps a player on a veteran’s minimum contact. Remember: If the Bulls don’t trade LaVine or DeRozan and re-sign Vucevic, luxury tax concerns come into play if they also use the full midlevel exception.

The Bulls interviewed top prospects like Brandon Miller at the NBA Draft Combine. While there has been no recent linkage to the Bulls trading into the high lottery, including previous speculation centered on LaVine and Portland’s third pick, they worked that week like a team going through the normal draft process.

This certainly could merely be due diligence, as well as utilizing the combine to gather intel for the future. But rookie-scale contracts do afford a team cost control, which always has been essential but perhaps even more so in the new collective bargaining agreement.

The Bulls own limited trade assets on the margins. Save for Caruso, who is coming off his first All-Defense selection and such an integral piece, their main assets rest in the high-tier contract status, not the mid- to low-tiers. Thus, this is probably Thursday’s least likely scenario.

But stay tuned. Karnišovas and his staff have showed the ability to get creative before. Running it back with the same core for a non-playoff team still sounds like the least appealing option.

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The Denver Nuggets won their first NBA championship in franchise history Monday night, defeating the Miami Heat in five games.

The victory came on the 32^nd anniversary of the Chicago Bulls’ first championship and three years and two months after Michael and Jerry Reinsdorf hired Artūras Karnišovas away from the Nuggets to replace John Paxson.

At Karnišovas’ April 2020 introductory news conference, held on Zoom in the early throes of the global pandemic, he said this as he moved from the No. 2 role under then-Nuggets president Tim Connelly to run basketball operations for the Bulls.

“Chicago is a great sports town, with a long, robust sports history. The city is made up of very passionate fans. Earning the enthusiasm and excitement back from the fans for the Chicago Bulls is both a challenge and something I very much look forward to. These fans deserve a team that they can be proud of, and my objective is to get us back to relevancy.

“This is my dream. Our ultimate goal is to bring an NBA championship to the city of Chicago.”

One had to wonder the myriad emotions that Karnišovas—and, on a less local level, Connelly, who has since moved on to run the Minnesota Timberwolves– experienced as he watched the Nuggets win it all.

On the one hand, Karnišovas played a significant role in the Nuggets’ draft process that landed superstars Nikola Jokic and Jamal Murray, as well as starter Michael Porter Jr. Both Jokic and Murray talked about their relationships with Karnišovas and wished him well when he left for the Bulls.

On the other hand, Karnišovas to this point has emerged on a different team-building philosophy with the Bulls.

Though first-round picks Patrick Williams and Dalen Terry could achieve the long-term stability that some of the Nuggets’ core pieces have enjoyed, Karnišovas traded three first-round picks to aggressively overhaul the roster and land veterans in Nikola Vucevic and DeMar DeRozan. Only Zach LaVine and Coby White remain from the team he inherited. And White is poised to hit restricted free agency in July, although Karnišovas has stated his desire to re-sign White.

Karnišovas’ initial, aggressive moves achieved his first publicly stated goal—returning the Bulls to relevancy. The 2021-22 Bulls earned the franchise’s first playoff berth in five years. And throughout the first half of that season, the Bulls led the Eastern Conference and played an entertaining style that jazzed a raucous United Center.

Since the Bulls’ first-round exit to the Milwaukee Bucks in 2022, though, the path to opening a championship window has grown rocky. Lonzo Ball, such a critical piece to Karnišovas’ vision, hasn’t played since January 2022. Ball’s three knee surgeries since then have placed his career in jeopardy.

Currently, the Bulls own no picks in next week’s NBA Draft. And with the franchise’s history of only paying the luxury tax once and ownership saying it only will do so again for a championship contender, Karnišovas must get creative this offseason for the Bulls to improve.

The Nuggets currently sit on top of the NBA world. The Bulls face a long uphill climb to try to get there.

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Let’s assume Artūras Karnišovas follows through on what he hinted at during his April 14 season-ending news conference.

Let’s project that the six players under contract in Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso, Patrick Williams and Dalen Terry all return, as do free agents Nikola Vucevic, Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu.

Andre Drummond told the Paper Route podcast by I AM ATHLETE that, as of now, he plans to exercise his player option, which is what Derrick Jones Jr. told NBC Sports Chicago in mid-April.

With no current picks in this month’s NBA Draft and assuming Marko Simonovic’s non-guaranteed deal is either let go or re-worked into a G League or two-way contract, that makes 11 guaranteed salaries. That leaves three or four roster spots to be filled via the midlevel, biannual and veteran’s minimum exceptions, depending on if the Bulls carry 14 or 15 players.

Given the franchise’s history of only paying the luxury tax once, it still seems difficult to see how the Bulls can re-sign both White and Dosunmu on top of Vucevic and avoid the penalty. But Karnišovas expressed his desire to re-sign all three.

Asked about this difficult financial needle to thread at that April news conference, here’s what Karnišovas said: “We will have all this time to figure the big things out — what we’re going to do, how to improve this team moving forward. Now, in terms of support from the ownership, from Jerry and Michael (Reinsdorf), I’ll always add support and just obviously that’s going to have to be justified when we’re ready to push forward. It waits to be seen this offseason what this team is going to look like.”

Karnišovas has been pretty true to his public messaging in his three years on the job. So despite rival executives speculating that change is coming to the Bulls’ roster, there’s a real chance the Bulls opt to re-sign some or all of their own free agents and work the roster margins to improve.

If this is the case, July will provide answers as to how management fills the remaining roster spots. Although with Lonzo Ball’s future in serious jeopardy, it’s a safe bet the Bulls look to stabilize the point guard position whether that’s by making White the starter, targeting someone with a veteran’s minimum exception or a trade.

Using some or all of the midlevel exception of roughly $12.2 million to add shooting seems a prudent path, whether that’s split between multiple players or not. But the projected $162 million luxury tax line underscores how difficult a needle management must thread to improve the roster if it follows through on its public stance to re-sign most of its free agents and if ownership stays consistent with its stance on only paying the penalty for a championship contending team.

Which the Bulls, as a sub-.500 team that didn’t qualify for the playoffs, currently are not.

So how do the Bulls improve if management opts largely for continuity? How do they become a playoff team?

Here are three ways:

Williams takes a jump

Quietly, there was a lot to like from Williams’ third season, even if his statistics didn’t scream “future star.”

He played all 82 games. He shot 41.5 percent from 3-point range. He averaged double figures for the first time on a team with three primary offensive options ahead of him. He guarded myriad defensive assignments without complaint.

While Williams found a home with the second unit down the stretch of the season, it’s time for him to become a full-time starter and continue his upward trajectory. Williams is eligible for a contract extension this offseason, but his biggest news needs to be made on the court.

White solves the point guard position

With Ball possibly missing another full season and his career in jeopardy, re-signing White and having him handle starting point guard duties could have multiple positive effects on the roster.

It could keep one of the better 3-point shooters in the fold while also helping coach Billy Donovan play to his preferred, up-tempo style. Asked about his confidence in White as a starter the day after their play-in loss to the Miami Heat, Donovan said the following:

“He’s a lot more equipped, I’d say, today to be maybe in that role than he was a few years ago. So I’ve got a lot of confidence in Coby and just the way he’s gotten better. And he deserves all the credit. He’s the one who put all the work in.”

White has improved his ballhandling and decision-making while still possessing the ability to finish at the rim. He also grew defensively last season.

The Bulls absolutely must increase their 3-point attempts next season. Keeping White, and keeping him on the court more, will help.

The “Big 3” plays better offensively

Individually, LaVIne, DeRozan and Vucevic all had solid seasons. But in their league-leading 1,642 shared minutes together, they produced an offensive rating of just 111.3.

For comparison, Sacramento’s trio of Domantas Sabonis, Harrison Barnes and Kevin Huerter, which played the second-most minutes together at 1,608, registered an offensive rating of 121.5.

Denver’s most-used three-man combination of Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope posted an offensive rating of 124.5 in 1,518 shared minutes.

These numbers, plus the fact the Bulls missed the playoffs, certainly could suggest that this three-man core has a non-championship ceiling. But if the Bulls return it, the coaching staff and players must figure out a way to unlock its collective rather than individual power.

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With Lonzo Ball’s future so uncertain following three left knee surgeries in 14 months, including a ligament transplant, the Bulls are in the unenviable position of having plenty of guards on the roster but no experienced floor general.

That’s why Patrick Beverley made such an impact after arriving in February off the buyout market. Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu and Alex Caruso all have value in their roles and had moments as a starting point guard. But all are better suited in different roles, although White has potential to grow into that role.

Few floor generals carry as much respect as Chris Paul, whom Chris Haynes of TNT and Bleacher Report reported on Wednesday will be waived by the Phoenix Suns.

While re-signing White and making him the starting point guard remains a possibility, could the Bulls get in the mix for Paul, a 12-time All-Star?

On the plus side, Paul is a career 36.9 percent 3-point shooter who led the NBA in assists as recently as the 2021-22 season. He also has a history with coach Billy Donovan, having averaged 17.6 points and 6.7 assists for the 2019-20 Oklahoma City Thunder, who surprisingly finished 44-28 in Donovan’s final season there.

Paul, coincidentally, also is close with White, who played for Paul’s AAU team while growing up in North Carolina. The two work out together occasionally during the offseason, and White has cited Paul as a mentor.

On the minus side, Paul was due to make $30.8 million next season, only $15.8 million of which is guaranteed. That’s why Phoenix, who, presumably, could’ve shopped Paul before reaching this imminent conclusion, is poised to waive him, per Haynes’ reporting.

While Paul, who turned 38 last month, won’t command that salary if he hits free agency, Haynes reported that Paul “is eager to help a team contend for a championship.”

The Bulls are coming off an underwhelming season in which they failed to exit the play-in tournament. They also almost certainly will operate as an over-the-salary-cap team this offseason, meaning they will have the non-taxpayer midlevel exception of roughly $12.2 million at their disposal.

But if they intend to re-sign White, Dosunmu and center Nikola Vucevic, as executive vice president Artūras Karnišovas stated at his mid-April, season-ending news conference, luxury tax issues come into play. That’s a tax the franchise only has paid once.

The Lakers, who recently reached the Western Conference finals, are a logical landing spot for Paul. So are the Clippers. The Suns even could re-sign Paul if he clears waivers, which is almost a certainty given his large contract.

Ball has a $21.3 million player option for the 2024-25 season that he almost certainly will exercise given his injury saga. If Ball can’t return at some point this season, which is in serious jeopardy given that he hasn’t played since January 2022, then it’s likely the Bulls will apply for some form of financial relief.

But that relief wouldn’t come this offseason. So barring a trade, the options to add high-priced, veteran talent are limited.

Even while averaging a career-low 13.9 points last season, Paul still contributed 8.9 assists and 1.5 steals per game, although he did only appear in 59 games and battled injuries in the playoffs. When healthy, he can still play.

Will it be for the Bulls? It’s a longshot scenario for now.

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Sometimes, it’s based in reality.

In 2021, the Bulls held legitimate conversations about signing Rose in free agency before pivoting to Alex Caruso. Rose instead signed a three-year, $43.5 million deal with the New York Knicks that carries a team option for 2023-24. Given that Rose completely dropped from Tom Thibodeau’s playing rotation this season, it has been widely speculated that the Knicks will decline that $15.6 million option and make Rose an unrestricted free agent.

Speaking on the The HoopsHype Podcast with Michael Scotto, the host said it’s his opinion that the Bulls would be a good landing spot for the former most valuable player should that happen. Scotto’s guests, Knicks beat writers Ian Begley from SNY and Stefan Bondy from the New York Daily News, agreed that it would be, in Bondy’s words “a cool thing for Derrick and for that franchise.” Begley added that some people in the Milwaukee Bucks’ franchise showed some interest in Rose during last season, so he added that as a potential option while also reminding listeners of Knicks owner James Dolan’s respect for Rose.

A reflective Rose opened up about his basketball mortality when the Knicks came to the United Center last December for two straight games against the Bulls.

“Who knows how many years I’m going to continue to play?” Rose said then. “It’s a lot of things I’m looking forward to doing. But right now, I’m still invested in basketball. So that’s where I’m giving my everything.”

The Bulls’ point guard situation is muddled by Lonzo Ball’s persistent left knee issues. Ball underwent his third surgery in 14 months in March, this time attempting a cartilage transplant in a move that could be a last resort to salvaging his career.

The Bulls also face decisions on restricted free agent guards Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu. Executive vice president Artūras Karnišovas also lauded the play of Patrick Beverley down the stretch of the Bulls’ season after the local product arrived via the buyout market. Coincidentally, Beverley and Rose are longtime friends and competitors dating to their shared high school days at Marshall and Simeon, respectively.

The pros of adding Rose, who will turn 35 in October, are obvious. He’s a beloved local figure who draws standing ovations on every visit to the United Center. He certainly would excite a fan base and do nothing to hurt the Bulls’ league-leading attendance. He also is viewed as a sage veteran mentor, one who was named a finalist for the NBA’s Twyman-Stokes Teammate of the Year award won by the Bucks’ Jrue Holiday.

As to whether or not Rose can still play, he averaged 5.6 points in 12.5 minutes over 27 games before dropping from the rotation. Beyond his multiple knee surgeries, Rose also underwent a season-ending procedure on his right ankle in February 2022. But those close to him insist his burst and pick-and-roll game remain formidable when healthy.

Rose is a career 31.5 percent 3-point shooter, so his addition wouldn’t address the Bulls’ main offseason need of improving long-distance shooting. He also isn’t considered a strong defender.

The Bulls, both publicly and privately, have expressed their desire to re-sign White, who showed strong improvement in multiple areas of his game last season even as his scoring dropped. Ball’s $20.4 million salary likely will remain on the books regardless of his injury status, while Zach LaVine is entering the second season of his five-year maximum contract and will earn $40 million in 2023-24. Caruso ($9.9 million) and Dalen Terry also remain on the roster.

Given the Bulls’ backcourt salary commitments, Rose might only command a veteran’s minimum salary were he to hit free agency and express a desire to return home. And that’s even if the Bulls were interested.

In other words, stay tuned. But make sure to savor the memories.

“I got pictures from (son P.J.) and Kobe (Bryant) here, everything. The book that we’re going to look back at and all the pictures, it’s going to be something to really cry about,” Rose said in December. “We maxed out in every area while we were here. Basketball, talking to the fans. We were showing professionalism when we were here with that group.”

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In your column from the NBA Draft Combine, you wrote the Bulls “landed predominately in leaguewide speculation.” How likely do you think it is that they break up their core? — Mike S.

Well, Nikola Vucevic has a say in that, given that he can become an unrestricted free agent on July 1 if he and the Bulls don’t reach terms on an extension before then.

It should be noted that this speculation came from executives on other teams, ones who seemingly have watched enough of the Bulls to believe, like many fans, that this core has a ceiling. There remains the very real chance the Bulls re-sign Vucevic, hold onto Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan and try to upgrade the margins to give this group another shot. Remember: That, for now, is management’s public stance.

But several rival executives who NBC Sports Chicago talked to at the combine are skeptical about the long-term marriage between Zach LaVine and the Bulls. LaVine, who has been loyal to the Bulls, has grown tired of consistently landing in trade rumors, although talk of the New York Knicks’ interest at the trade deadline was overstated. LaVine also represents the Bulls’ most dynamic scorer in terms of his ability to heat up either beyond the arc or attacking the rim. Again, the Bulls publicly have backed LaVine at every opportunity so believe that for now over rival executives’ speculation. But that speculation is prevalent enough to acknowledge.

What do you think is a fair deal for Nikola Vucevic? — Todd R.

This may be better answered by posing my own question: Do you think a player who just played all 82 games and finished third in the NBA in double-doubles is going to ask for a raise? Because I do.

Now, in a market where most teams projected to have significant salary cap space are rebuilding, can Vucevic get more than the $22 million he made last season on the open market? He and Brook Lopez are the biggest available names at center.

I think a good solution might be to do a short-term deal at slightly above his 2022-23 salary. Say, two years and $48-50 million or three years at $66-72 million. Remember: Letting Vucevic walk for nothing after what the Bulls gave up to acquire him would be a bad look. And for all the focus on Vucevic’s shortcomings, he remains a durable, double-double machine who has the skill level and IQ to fit with various personnel.

What’s the latest on Lonzo Ball? — Rich C.

The Bulls made it pretty clear in March when Ball underwent his third left knee surgery in 14 months that any timeline for his potential return would be nebulous. Nothing I’ve heard since the surgery has changed the low expectations for Ball regarding next season. Ball is attempting to come back from a cartilage transplant, a rare, but not unprecedented, path for a professional athlete. It’s such a sad story for such a young player who plays so selflessly and tries to impact winning by making his teammates better. I talked to Brandon Roy at the NBA Draft Combine after he represented the Portland Trail Blazers on stage. Roy made three All-Star and two All-NBA teams by age 25 before retiring at age 27 because of degenerative knees. Injuries remain the worst.

Taking a closer look at the Wemby frenzy and just realized that over the last 20 years, only two No. 1 picks have won the most valuable player trophy—LeBron James and our beloved Derrick Rose. Is that enough for people to understand that, first, relying mostly on the lottery to build your team is a high-risk/low-reward strategy; second, the amount of pressure and unrealistic expectations it puts on those young players is unfair; and third, Rose was so much better than what he likely will be remembered for by many? — Simon M.

This is well said, particularly the relying on the lottery part. Because not only do you need to get lucky at the lottery, but that has to happen in the right year. There has to be a surefire talent there. Andrea Bargnani, Greg Oden, Anthony Bennett, Ben Simmons and Markelle Fultz are all No. 1 picks from this time frame that didn’t fully live up to expectations, either through injury, circumstance or both. The jury also remains out on Zion Williamson because of his injuries.

As for Rose, those who watched his rise from Rookie of the Year to the fateful day he tore his ACL know. More important, his peers know. The way former NBA players have talked about prime DRose tells you all you need to know. Simply put, he was that rare combination of speed and strength and elite athleticism. He was a problem.

Are you surprised by the Miami Heat’s playoff run? — Mario L.

Isn’t everybody but Jimmy Butler? I keep thinking back to what he told The Athletic’s Sam Amick after the Heat started 2-5: “We’re still going to win the championship, and I don’t care what nobody says.” His playoff run obviously is one of the all-time greats.

Given the fact the Bulls owned the Heat in the regular season, the Heat lost at home to a very average Atlanta Hawks team in the first play-in game and then sat on the ropes waiting for the Bulls’ knockout punch that never came in the second play-in game, yes, I’m surprised. But I’m also impressed by a tough-minded franchise delivering consistently in big moments. That they’re doing it without Tyler Herro and with role players, including local product Max Strus, repeatedly hitting big shots and making important defensive stops makes it even more impressive.

In closing, is now the time to mention that Strus, a career 37 percent 3-point shooter, will be an unrestricted free agent this offseason?

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“I’ve watched him over his career since high school in Chino Hills [Calif.] And I know him and his brother [LaMelo], they’re just fans of basketball and getting after it and just being competitive. You can tell by watching them play,” Roy said in a conversation with NBC Sports Chicago. “That’s the hardest part.”

That empathy Roy offered to Ball is earned. While Roy, 38, obviously doesn’t know how Ball’s latest attempt to resuscitate his career will turn out, Roy does know what it’s like to have the game of basketball taken away prematurely because of injuries.

Ball, 25, hasn’t played in the NBA since January 2022 and underwent a cartilage transplant in March, his third left knee surgery in 14 months and a rare procedure for a professional athlete.

Roy, who earned three All-Star and two All-NBA berths in his first four seasons in the league, first retired in 2011 at age 27 because of degenerative knees that left him no cartilage to cushion the wear and tear of the game. A brief, five-game comeback attempt with the Minnesota Timberwolves in 2012 ended with another surgery.

“If I was to talk to him, the advice I would give him is focus on yourself right now. Get healthy,” Roy said last week in Chicago after representing the Trail Blazers at the NBA Draft Lottery. “You always want to think about your next five, 10 years. But right now, don’t feel rushed to do that.

“He still has time. He can get healthy. He can still figure out a niche. Maybe it’s not as many minutes. Maybe it’s not the role he expected. But continue to love the game as much as you can right now at this age and this space he’s in in his life. And don’t think too much about the future. Think about the now and trying to get better and trying to get on the court.”

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Like Ball, Roy played with a selfless competitiveness that impacted winning. Asked if the mental or physical toll is greater during rehabilitation as he tried to save his career, Roy paused.

“Man, they’re pretty even,” he said. “There are some days where physically, you may feel like you’re doing better. But mentally, it may not be fast enough because there’s pressure from the outside world or just the internal pressure we have from wanting to get out there and play for our teammates.

“I hated being in the locker room hurt and being maybe the missing piece to our team being better. So the mental hurdle is definitely real. Physically, we can play through pain. But mentally not being available and not being there for guys is really hard.”

Roy has found purpose in and pleasure from becoming a successful high school basketball coach in his native Seattle, where he’s close friends with former Bull Jamal Crawford, among other NBA players.

Roy coached Denver Nuggets starter Michael Porter Jr., who’s about to play in his first NBA Finals, among other future NBA players.

“It’s been great. Winning, losing, I’m a part of the game again,” Roy said. “I gave the game all I had as a player. If I could tell a young kid anything, it’s give it all you got. And don’t feel rushed by anybody. If you love it, stay with it. Lonzo will know if and when it feels like it’s over. But I don’t feel like it’s anywhere near over yet.”