The 2024-25 Chicago Bulls season was a straight-up disaster. The organization can’t decide if they want to rebuild or go for the playoffs. The result is they are failing to do either of those, leaving fans with just a bad basketball team. It’s time everyone is clear about what must happen to move forward. This team needs a full rebuild.
They haven’t made the playoffs since 2022, and we also had a great early 2010s team that seriously didn’t get far. The last good Bulls team was back in the 2021-2022 season, and they haven’t had much luck since then.
Earlier in the offseason they kept head coach Billy Donavan, and they traded Alex Caruso to the Oklahoma City Thunder and DeMar DeRozan to the Sacramento Kings. Mid-season they traded Zach LaVine to reunite with DeRozan and the Kings. The Bulls added Josh Giddey from the Oklahoma City Thunder, Chris Duarte from the Sacramento Kings, Raiquan Gray from the San Antonio Spurs and Jalen Smith from the Indiana Pacers.
There was no consistent roster, and that fueled inconsistent play. They finished the season with a 39-43 record and finished 9th in the Eastern conference, along with a play-in exit.
One of the few things they did well this season was growth. The Chicago Bulls did see improvements in Giddey, Coby White and rookie star Matas Buzelis. Nikola Vucevic and Ayo Dosunmu had solid seasons offensively and defensively.
I have to admit it was exciting to see Lonzo Ball back. Ball last played in the NBA back on Jan. 17, 2022 against the Detroit Pistons when he clocked in 27 minutes and scored 18 points, but then he missed more than three years because of a nagging knee issue. Ball is one of the best defenders in the NBA, and he makes a serious impact with his basketball IQ. Seeing him play basketball for the Bulls was icing on an otherwise inedible cake.
The roster, as a whole, was yet another version of being just good enough to remain not good enough for the foreseeable future. Sure, they managed to make the play-in, but the cast was nowhere near an NBA championship roster. With White, Giddey, Buzelis and Dosunmu they had some talent to work with. However, Jevon Carter, Zach Collins and Torey Craig brought almost nothing to the teams. We also saw yet another disappointing season from Patrick Williams. Because of Williams’ fourth-overall draft position in 2020, there has been hesitation to call him a bust. No more hesitation. He is a bust. Move on.
Let’s not forget the underlying reason for the Bulls’ struggles. For three seasons in a row, the upper management has given us mediocre basketball. General Manager Marc Eversley and President Arturas Karnisovas have hardly made moves, and Head Coach Billy Donavan has given us mid-level coaching I wouldn’t be shocked if he is on the hot seat next season for all these failures.
Start the full rebuild now.
