Chicago Bulls: Potential free agent adds from NBA Playoffs
By Ryan Heckman
With free agency approaching this summer for the Chicago Bulls, could they get some help from anyone who helped their team make a 2019 playoff push?
It feels like the Chicago Bulls haven’t been to the playoffs in decades, with the way this franchise has been run. The fact is, it’s only been a couple of years. But, here we are, with the offseason beginning earlier after the Bulls missed the playoffs this season.
Boy, what a season it was.
The Bulls began the year as the laughing stock of the league, and after mustering just five wins in their first 24 games, the front office decided it was time to move on from Fred Hoiberg as head coach. Hoiberg was fired, and assistant coach Jim Boylen was named the interim right away.
The only problem? That “interim” title didn’t last long. Gar Forman and John Paxson thought it would be wise to label Boylen as the full-time head coach just days after naming him Hoiberg’s interim.
The Bulls quickly learned things would be different under Boylen, who demanded a whole heck of a lot more than Hoiberg did in both practices and in games. Boylen’s fiery style rubbed some guys the wrong way initially, and who knows where the players stand now with their head coach.
Regardless of where they stand with coach Boylen, they’ll have to get used to seeing him around for a few more years, as the Bulls extended him on a multi-year contract recently.
Going into the thick of the offseason, the Bulls will hope to strike gold in the 2019 NBA Lottery. Whatever happens in the draft, though, won’t fix all of the team’s issues. The biggest problems are at the point guard position and their lack of depth overall.
Could free agency help? Potentially.
A nice start might be to take a look at some of the 2019 playoff teams and their key free agents. Maybe, just maybe, the Bulls could add some pieces to the mix whom help them push for the playoffs next year. Let’s take a look at some of those guys looking for new homes this summer, and how they’d fit in Chicago.