Two years ago, the Chicago Bulls made a massive shift in their overall philosophy. They were done rebuilding. It was time to compete for the playoffs. Chicago traded for Nikola Vucevic at the 2021 trade deadline and signed DeMar DeRozan, Lonzo Ball, and Alex Caruso that following summer.
Since then, they have made the playoffs in one of two seasons, but this past year, they were eliminated in the Play-In Tournament. And while the current core doesn’t seem to be a championship-caliber group, Arturas Karnisovas intends to keep them together. However, Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, Karnisovas and the Bulls may be chasing “fool’s gold.”
Cowley wrote about Karnisovas’ former team, the Denver Nuggets, and how they have utilized patience with their young core, and it’s led them to an NBA Finals appearance. However, that’s not a plan that works for everybody.
“Any wonder why Karnisovas still is holding out hope that guard Lonzo Ball can make an improbable return from three surgeries on his left knee since January 2022?’ Cowley wrote. “Or why he might want to re-sign guards Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu?
“Loyalty has been huge for the Nuggets, and now Karnisovas’ former organization finally is reaping the benefits of it.
“Then there’s the run the Heat have been on in reaching the Eastern Conference Finals. This is a team the Bulls beat in all three regular-season games and was leading with less than three minutes left in the final play-in game.
“So would Karnisovas be chasing fool’s gold by keeping the Bulls’ core intact?”
The Bulls don’t have any players who could grow into a two-time MVP or the depth pieces to put around him. They aren’t the Nuggets, and no matter how long Karnisovas waits, they never will be.
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Story originally appeared on Lonzo Wire