I should’ve gotten this up earlier with better analysis. It’s more a new thread to talk about activity…
And the Bulls were ACTIVE! It rules:
Signed Lonzo Ball (and traded away little of consequence)
After guaranteeing Thad Young and Tomas Satoransky (dealt to Pelicans), the Bulls are operating this offseason as an over-the-cap team.
So for day 2, they still have some tools at their disposal.
Non-taxpayer MLE: only if this isn’t used on Caruso, and it’s looking possible that Caruso will be brought in on a Traded Player Exception, as the Bulls have one now after reportedly signing-and-trading Daniel Theis to the Houston Rockets.
Bi-Annual Exception
(also of note: if the Bulls want to sign 2nd-rounders Ayo Dosunmu and Marko Simonović to more than the minimum, they need to use a cap exception)
Lauri Markkanen in a sign-and-trade (there aren’t many teams with cap space left to sign Lauri to an above-MLE deal)
Al-Farouq Aminu’s expiring contract (could trade for a multi-year contract, as now the Bulls won’t have cap space in 2022)
As for what they still need to do…the team needs wings, badly.
They have a lot of guys who can play small forward, including incumbent starter Patrick Williams plus Ball and Caruso, but I don’t think any who are best suited there.
They also need a new backup center, but those can be found later and cheaper in the free agent market. And probably a veteran ‘more pure playmaker’ at PG too.
