Bulls 2026 Offseason Thread

[WrigleyField 22]

1 hour ago, Tryptamine said:

Just listened to Bryson Graham interview and he justified yesterday by saying that basically they weren't interested in any of the players who were available to them. So with the #38th pick they tried to turn it into other assets/future picks and with #56 they valued the roster flexibility regarding undrafted players and free agents more than they valued any player that was available. 

If they actually do stuff with the open spots, it's a warranted approach. Even if it's just throwing horsefeathers on the wall and seeing what sticks.

Even something minimal like the 2nd round pick swaps are low value bets. Make enough and some eventually hit or become trade assets or whatever. 

[Outshined_One]

1 hour ago, WrigleyField 22 said:

If they actually do stuff with the open spots, it's a warranted approach. Even if it's just throwing horsefeathers on the wall and seeing what sticks.

Even something minimal like the 2nd round pick swaps are low value bets. Make enough and some eventually hit or become trade assets or whatever. 

I'm just frustrated that they traded for all of these picks in the first place.  Kam Jones could be a fine player on this team, and my comment last night was partly red wine-driven, but if there's no desire to use these picks and NIL has gutted the second round of the NBA draft, why even bother getting these picks in trades?

I'm kind of curious as to whether the NBA will end up tweaking things to lure more guys away from NCAA, because it seemed like a substantial chunk of second rounders this year were either stash-and-pray picks or guys who ran out of eligibility.

[Irrelevant Dude]

15 minutes ago, Outshined_One said:

I'm just frustrated that they traded for all of these picks in the first place.

The Ayo trade just burns me.  How they couldn't get a first round pick for him is just beyond me.  And if they couldn't, they should have just kept him.  Yeah, he was expensive to re-sign, but that doesn't mean you just give a valuable piece away for nothing.

[gflore34]

54 minutes ago, Outshined_One said:

I'm just frustrated that they traded for all of these picks in the first place.  Kam Jones could be a fine player on this team, and my comment last night was partly red wine-driven, but if there's no desire to use these picks and NIL has gutted the second round of the NBA draft, why even bother getting these picks in trades?

I'm kind of curious as to whether the NBA will end up tweaking things to lure more guys away from NCAA, because it seemed like a substantial chunk of second rounders this year were either stash-and-pray picks or guys who ran out of eligibility.

Just taking a glance it appeared a good deal of the teams did what the Bulls did with their 2nd rounders.  

[Tryptamine]

54 minutes ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

The Ayo trade just burns me.  How they couldn't get a first round pick for him is just beyond me.  And if they couldn't, they should have just kept him.  Yeah, he was expensive to re-sign, but that doesn't mean you just give a valuable piece away for nothing.

Honestly a starting 5 of Ayo/Giddey/Wilson/Buzelis/Claxton would have been legitimately kind of good

[NorthsideAvenger]

1 hour ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

The Ayo trade just burns me.  How they couldn't get a first round pick for him is just beyond me.  And if they couldn't, they should have just kept him.  Yeah, he was expensive to re-sign, but that doesn't mean you just give a valuable piece away for nothing.

The story of AKME's time Chicago. Wait too long to trade players and when does trade players he got underwhelming return. 

[bukie]

1 hour ago, gflore34 said:

Just taking a glance it appeared a good deal of the teams did what the Bulls did with their 2nd rounders.  

29 of the 30 2nd round picks were traded at least once.

[Old Style]

3 hours ago, Irrelevant Dude said:

The Ayo trade just burns me.  How they couldn't get a first round pick for him is just beyond me.  And if they couldn't, they should have just kept him.  Yeah, he was expensive to re-sign, but that doesn't mean you just give a valuable piece away for nothing.

They didn’t get enough for Caruso either. 

[gflore34]

15 hours ago, Old Style said:

They didn’t get enough for Caruso either. 

I don't know about this, despite the shittyness of the last FO, the Caruso trade was actually good. They bought low on Giddey, couldn't get him for such a price now. 

[Derwood]

Wilson already predicting he'll win ROTY. Gotta love the swagger

[Old Style]

He wore a rose pin on his jacket to the draft in honor of DRose. 

[SouthSideRyan]

On 6/25/2026 at 12:45 PM, Irrelevant Dude said:

The Ayo trade just burns me.  How they couldn't get a first round pick for him is just beyond me.  And if they couldn't, they should have just kept him.  Yeah, he was expensive to re-sign, but that doesn't mean you just give a valuable piece away for nothing.

I’m probably displaying my NBA cap rule ignorance here, but if they kept him would the return on a sign and trade have been much different?

 

edit: I guess part of the appeal was trying to lose as many games as possible 

Edited Saturday at 01:46 PM by SouthSideRyan

[Rcal10]

All the complaining about what the Bulls did with second round picks go back to them having those picks anyway, and how dumb it was to just get second round picks. But that isn’t on this FO. I would say what they did by trading out of those spots suggest they agree with most of us that bacjnf them in the first place was stupid. If anything, trading them away gives me hope that this FO actually has a clue. 

[We Got The Whole 9]

It looks like they grabbed some decent shooting prospects in UDFA anyway so I'll give them the benefit of the doubt. 

[Old Style]

The Bulls are waiting Kam Jones who they just traded for on draft night. That seems unusual. 

[Old Style]

 

[Outshined_One]

On 6/24/2026 at 9:51 PM, Outshined_One said:

I get that the 2nd round is generally backups, G-Leaguers, and stash-and-prays, but come the horsefeathers on with this garbage. They traded for eighty bazillion of these picks and they shouldn't just trade them for cash and laughs.

I retract my retraction of this statement.

[17 Seconds]

not bad, even though he's old

 

[bjam12]

20 minutes ago, 17 Seconds said:

not bad, even though he's old

 

KC is hearing the second year is a team option. If so, great deal. 

[UMFan83]

Interesting signing.  Clearly not tanking in year 1.  Have no idea how good they are going to be though.  Powell was an All-Star last year for the first time, but I haven't really watched a ton of NBA lately so I don't know his game that well.  It sounds like he hits 3s though which is a need.

[17 Seconds]

15 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Interesting signing.  Clearly not tanking in year 1.  Have no idea how good they are going to be though.  Powell was an All-Star last year for the first time, but I haven't really watched a ton of NBA lately so I don't know his game that well.  It sounds like he hits 3s though which is a need.

just gotta avoid the bottom 3

[champaignchris]

22 minutes ago, UMFan83 said:

Interesting signing.  Clearly not tanking in year 1.  Have no idea how good they are going to be though.  Powell was an All-Star last year for the first time, but I haven't really watched a ton of NBA lately so I don't know his game that well.  It sounds like he hits 3s though which is a need.

He’s an undersized wing who can shoot. Considering the length they have at every other position, I wouldn’t be too worried about his size. 
 

With him and the Claxton trade, they’ve addressed the two most glaring needs in the starting lineup. 
 

if Caleb Wilson is the dude people think he is, and if they can get anything out of Essenngue or Dillingham, they could be an interesting, if not particularly good, team. 

[Rex Buckingham]

Best case looks like the Bulls will be a fun offensive team with enough shortcomings that they don't seriously contend for the playoffs (maybe even trade Powell at the deadline for a First round pick?) and fall in that magic lottery range (4-? I forget which place it cuts off at for the higher chance)

[Andy]

1 hour ago, Rex Buckingham said:

Best case looks like the Bulls will be a fun offensive team with enough shortcomings that they don't seriously contend for the playoffs (maybe even trade Powell at the deadline for a First round pick?) and fall in that magic lottery range (4-? I forget which place it cuts off at for the higher chance)

Just looked it up because I couldn't remember either, 4-10 is the sweet spot.