Chicago Bulls: Three reasons this team will continue to fail

Reason No. 2: Inability to attract free agents

The Bulls have often been in on free agent “Sweepstakes” during different offseasons for superstar players. First, it was LeBron James in 2010, then it was the race to sign Carmelo Anthony in 2014.

While LeBron used “The Decision” special to announce his departure to Miami, it was Anthony that was close to becoming a Bull. At least, according to him (via SBNation):

"It was a perfect setup and perfect fit for me in Chicago. But also I had to think about just living in Chicago. Do I want to live in Chicago? Do I want to take everything I created in New York and move all of that? It came down to that. But there was one point in time where I was like, “Oh, I’m going”."

In the end, Anthony re-signed with the New York Knicks. His quote highlights a problem the team ran into multiple times while trying to sign high profile players. A lot of guys don’t want to play in Chicago. And it’s not just because of the brutal winter weather.

I used a picture of former Bulls guard Dwayne Wade for this topic because while he did sign with the team as a free agent in 2016, there was also a time he played the Bulls in free agency.

During that same offseason that LeBron was deciding on where to end up, Wade was also a free agent. He wanted to team up with James, and it was possible in Chicago. However, in the leadup to the offseason, Wade publicly questioned the Bulls’ loyalty as an organization.

This was seen as an unnecessary shot at the team and it paved the way for Wade to have an excuse for not wanting to come home. While Wade later downplayed the claim of leveraging the Bulls, it’s tough to get that memory out of my mind.

It’s obvious that players around the league don’t trust the Bulls front office, and I don’t exactly blame them.