Chicago Bulls: Three reasons not to tank in 2018-2019

Reason 1: Young talent on the rise

The Bulls have acquired some talented young players recently. The team traded Jimmy Butler to the Minnesota Timberwolves for guards Kris Dunn and Zach LaVine. The teams also swapped 2017 first-round picks, which led to the Bulls drafting forward Lauri Markkanen seventh overall. This young core should continue to improve and hopefully thrive in the upcoming season.

In addition to adding these promising players, the team took a chance and signed restricted free agent forward Jabari Parker, a Chicago native. Parker played four seasons with the Milwaukee Bucks but never hit his stride because of brutal injuries. After tearing the ACL in his left knee twice over a short amount of time, Milwaukee was ready to move on.

The Bulls signed Parker to a two-year, $40 million deal. The second year of the deal is a team option for $20 million, and it’s a low-risk, high-reward move. Despite Parker’s injury history, he’s still only 23 years old and hasn’t fully developed his playing style. He’s very much a part of this youth movement on the Bulls. Hopefully, he can mesh well with his new teammates.

With these players and Carter now in the mix, there could be a nice offensive improvement for the team compared to 2017-2018. Defense is still a big liability with this lineup. Parker and Markkanen are both considered below-average defenders. LaVine is one of the worst defenders in the league at his position. The defense needs to improve drastically if this team wants to compete.