Five Reasons to Watch the Bulls This Season

We don’t need to link anything to know what everyone and their brother is saying about the 2018–19 Bulls. Predictions rightly have them near the bottom of the league or at least the bottom of the Eastern Conference. Not helping is the absence of Lauri Markkanen until around Thanksgiving, or that Jabari Parker, the Bulls’ only notable free-agent signing this past offseason, didn’t even wait until the games started counting to lose his starting spot. Perhaps anyone with even the faintest optimism should invest in a new pair of glasses from new Bulls jersey sponsor Zenni Optical.

But as we prepare for the Bulls to open their season Thursday against the Philadelphia 76ers in their only appearance on TNT this year, we need to look for things that will compel us to watch. It’s surely a given that you are, given that you’re reading this site. If your main goal is to watch them lose for draft position again, you know why you’re watching, so skip this list and tweet out #BeBadForBarrett as much as your heart desires. For the rest of you, here are five things to look out for:

1. The Minnesota trio: Before the Jimmy Butler drama prompts you to name the Bulls winners in the trade that started the rebuild, it’s completely unfair to raise their wrists in the ring right now. Though Markkanen came into training camp with more muscle, the time he’ll need to recover from his elbow injury is a setback that could carry over for much of, if not the entire year. Zach LaVine had a fine preseason and is in basketball shape, but will he become the star worth the $80 million the Bulls gave him over the summer? As for Kris Dunn, all eyes will be on him to see if he’s a real playmaker or merely a facilitator, and whatever he becomes will go a long way in determining whether this rebuild is successful.
2. Parker and Portis: This goes beyond whether Parker can take the starting power forward job back from Bobby Portis, who originally was going to be the Bulls’ sixth man. Parker’s preseason struggles suggest this could be the only year of his two-year contract in which he plays in his hometown and gets to collect his $20 million, the most of anyone on the roster. Meanwhile, Portis and the Bulls failed to agree on an extension, and he’ll become a restricted free agent next offseason without one. While both players will have plenty of opportunities to show their worth, will they do enough this year for their Chicago tenures to last into the next decade?
3. Carter starts: Just as I hoped he would, rookie Wendell Carter Jr. gets to start at center to open the season. The preseason returns on him have been promising, and he’s determined to show it was worth it for the Bulls to go with the “safe pick” in the draft. Adding further incentive for him is many feeling that his team failed to tank properly and shouldn’t have picked as “low” as seventh. If he can average close to a double-double, we’ll be seeing him on the All-Rookie Team like Markkanen before him.
4. Holiday, Lopez building trade value: With Justin Holiday and Robin Lopez set to become unrestricted free agents after this year, the Bulls are banking on both to become players better teams will want at the trade deadline, just like Nikola Mirortic did last year. Holiday begins the season as the starting small forward, and though Lopez lost his starting spot to Carter, he’ll still get plenty of minutes with his trademark hustle. At a respective 29 and 30 years old, they’ll also be de facto veteran leaders they get shipped out, assuming they do (Omer Asik need not apply).
5. Payne’s opportunities: Cameron Payne won’t have to wait to get significant playing time because he’s starting Thursday with Dunn being excused for personal reasons. He’ll be grateful for this and any other games in which he gets to play a lot because this season could be his final chance to make an impression in Chicago. The former “point guard of the future” has long been the final holdover from the trade that sent Taj Gibson to the Oklahoma City Thunder, and patience with him is wearing thin. On top of a decent level of production, he’ll need to stay healthy, unlike when foot surgery limited him to 25 games last year.

So don’t despair over a time that probably will top out around 30 wins. Watch for player development instead of victories if that’s what keeps you going as a basketball fan. And if nothing else, smile, because the Bulls and the NBA are back. That’s what Scottie Pippen feels, anyway: