Chicago Bulls: Playoff entry could be best thing to happen to franchise
Some feel the late playoff push and an early exit won’t do anything for the Chicago Bulls’ future. This particular series, however, may be the best thing for them.
On a number of occasions, people felt that this Chicago Bulls team would miss the playoffs for the second consecutive season. In-fighting that turned public, bad feelings between players and the front office and lopsided trades helped solidify that argument. With a late-season push, however, they squeaked past the Miami Heat for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference.
Of course, the obligatory talk about tanking came up. Some felt that the Bulls needed to miss the playoffs in order to rebuild the team with some of the best prospects to come out in quite some time. Picking in the middle of the draft won’t net them anyone to make a big impact on the team. We see that with the Chicago Bears who are picking near the top in every round, and expect to pick up some very good prospects.
The Bulls may have hit pay dirt, though. Playing THIS particular series with the Boston Celtics may be the best thing possible for them. Fellow Da Windy City writer Jordan Campbell wrote recently about reports having the Bulls unloading star forward Jimmy Butler in the offseason.
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Yes, rumors of the Bulls trading Butler have circulated around the Berto Center for quite some time now. The same was said about Taj Gibson until they finally did trade him.
I think in order for the Bulls to get better, they need to trade Butler and just start all over. The perfect candidate to do that with is with the Boston Celtics.
The Celtics covet Butler. They tried to trade for him before last season’s trade deadline. They tried to trade for him before last year’s NBA Draft. Also, they tried to trade for him before this season’s trade deadline.
The Celtics have draft picks galore, including the Brooklyn Nets’ possible number one pick in this draft. Additionally, they own the Nets’ first round pick in NEXT year’s draft as well.
With a cache of draft picks, the Celtics could pry Butler away from the Bulls. Butler can be the final piece for the Celtics to make a Finals run for years. For the Bulls, if they decide to go rebuild, they could do it quicker than some believe.
I don’t think Dwyane Wade will pick up his option if the team goes full rebuild and stay without his new BFF Butler. If that is the case, the Bulls save about $42 million and close to 45 percent of their cap space (according to Spotrac) just by not having Butler and Wade. They could be major players in free agency in addition to possibly getting the top pick in the draft.
Next: Bulls-Celtics playoff schedule
Playing this series against the Celtics gives both franchises an opportunity to look deeper into reopening talks. It appears the Bulls are ready to part ways with Butler. The best trading partner is the team about to face (and probably eliminate) them in the playoffs. This is a win-win for both teams, and they’ll have a four to seven game stretch to realize that.