Report: Bulls Unhappy With Kris Dunn’s Work Ethic

Bulls fans clamoring for Trae Young or Collin Sexton in next week’s draft might get their wish yet. That’s because a recent report from the Chicago Sun-Times indicates the Bulls have been less than thrilled with Kris Dunn’s work ethic of late. Both coaches and the front office have made it known what they think of how Dunn has gone about this offseason, and it’s not pretty. The term “shortcutting” has been thrown around in regards to his workouts.

No one knows if this is serving as motivation for Dunn or if the concerns within the organization are real. Still, the question becomes if the Bulls are willing to abandon their earlier plan of drafting a wing and go with a point guard instead. It’s probably not where they wanted to be at this time after trading for Dunn last year. Instead, they have to relay the same message Zach LaVine apparently received during the past season.

How much, if at all, could this set the rebuild back? Dunn is being counted to show he was worth Jimmy Butler. Sure, Lauri Markkanen arguably has done that on his own, and Zach LaVine has shown his own signs of doing so. But you need someone to run your offense, and the Bulls touted him as the man to do so. Then again, this is the same organization that once painted Cameron Payne as the “point guard of the future,” so how highly do they really hold the players in that position?

Hopefully in the time since this report came out, Dunn’s offseason activity has returned to an acceptable level. It would be better if this was a story that lost its relevance after only a few days. Otherwise, the Bulls are going to have to go back to the drawing board, which means they’ll have to wait longer for results, which means we won’t see winning basketball as soon as we had hoped. Whoever the Bulls draft will reflect whether they’ve put this episode behind them.

Let this be the end of offseason reports of Bulls players allegedly not pulling their weight. If Dunn was indeed simply easing himself into his program, more power to him. The Bulls might have been paranoid that their assets aren’t on the track they had in mind when they were actually moving at the pace that’s right for them. And should that be the case, well — only the one and only Chicago Bulls!