Chicago Bulls: Grading each move made this offseason

Butler trade with Minnesota Timberwolves

Chicago Bulls Grade: D

Let’s kick this the off with the big one, the Jimmy Butler trade with the Minnesota Timberwolves. In this trade, the Chicago Bulls sent Jimmy Butler and the 16th overall pick in the 2017 NBA to Minnesota in exchange for guards Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and the seventh overall pick in the draft. The Bulls ended up taking Arizona big man Lauri Markkanen with the pick.

It is hard for me to be too tough on this trade. I advocated for the Bulls to trade Butler for a long time. They were in the desperate need of a rebuild and Butler was their only real asset to trade. However, no matter how you look at it, the Bulls front office did not get good value here.

Part of the value of this trade is jumpstarting the rebuild. The Bulls need to tear their roster down and this undoubtedly helps. They will be significantly worse next season without Butler and that will help them get a good draft pick. However, it is hard to value that in a grade. The Bulls sold low on their best asset, hence the grade of a “D”.

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LaVine is looked at by most as the most interesting player in this trade for the Bulls. As a freak athlete who can really shoot from the outside, his offensive upside is obvious. However, LaVine does is coming off of a torn ACL, is a legitimate liability on the defensive end and is a restricted free agent after the 2017/18 season. Sure, he has a lot of upside, but LaVine is far from an elite asset.

I still like Kris Dunn as a player. His defensive prowess is impressive and I think his ability to lead a fast break attack could fit well in Fred Hoiberg‘s system. That being said, we cannot ignore the struggles that he had as a rookie.

Dunn can’t shoot, and in today’s NBA, that can kill a career. It is always going to be difficult for him to find space in the half court game and the Bulls already have obvious spacing issues.

I do think Dunn still has some upside and is probably a tad underrated because of one poor season. But you cannot ignore his scary downside.

As for Markkanen, I will have much more on him soon. I did not hate the pick, but the Bulls did not take the best player on the board and that was a mistake.

Plus, the Timberwolves absolutely fleeced them by forcing them to include their own first round pick. You mean to tell me that Minnesota wouldn’t have done this deal if number 16 wasn’t involved? I call BS on that one. The Timberwolves feasted on a weak front office and forced them to add an asset that they didn’t need to.

Starting the rebuild is good, but no matter how you look at it, this was a bad trade for the Chicago Bulls.