Bulls need to approach remainder of the season with guarded optimism
Now it’s about to get interesting for the Bulls.
Not in the standings of course. If anything, the hope should be for a continual sinking with the team currently outside of the play-in tournament and carrying the fourth-toughest remaining schedule.
If the Bulls play their cards right in pursuit of better draft lottery odds, within the next week they could drop below Milwaukee and start chasing down Memphis for the eighth-worst record.
Goals, people, goals.
What’s worth watching, however, is the personnel rolled out the remaining 27 games of the regular season.
With Josh Giddey (hamstring) a full participant in practice and Tre Jones (hamstring) getting close, the Bulls guard room is once again standing room only. Along with newly acquired Anfernee Simons, Jaden Ivey, Collin Sexton and Rob Dillingham, coach Billy Donovan has six guards that each warrant playing time, and limited minutes to try and make that happen.
The coaching staff have been given no edict from the front office on who to play so will still focus on winning games. Wes Unseld Jr. will coach in Donovan’s place Thursday, while Donovan is attending his father’s funeral, and it will be Donovan back in his seat for the weekend.
Before the All-Star Break, Donovan made his priorities very clear. It comes down to survival of the fittest, or in this case survival of who is playing the best. If the team’s medical staff wants to hold guys back, that’s on them. It won’t be on the coach.
“I think guys are going to have to earn minutes,” Donovan said. “Because of all the guards we have we’re not going to be able to play all of them because we’ll have size issues too, so you may get playing Jalen (Smith) and Nick Richards together, and if you have Matas (Buzelis) out there or Patrick (Williams) out there, there’s only two guard spots, so you’re going to have four guards sitting on the bench. That could happen.”
What complicates all of this is the contract situation of the players involved.
Giddey and Jones are locked in — Giddey through the 2028-29 season and Jones through 2027-28. Dillingham is on his rookie deal, so has time to continue to develop. Ivey will be a restricted free agent this summer, so the Bulls will have the final say on his future no matter what the market dictates.
Simons and Sexton, however, are unrestricted free agents, and executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas did not show his hand on what their futures might be after they were acquired.
Sexton and Simons are somewhat redundant players in that they each shoot around 38% from three-point range and can play either guard spot in a pinch, but Sexton is better at getting to the free-throw line and plays with a bit more intensity.
They likely won’t keep both, and there is a very real scenario in which neither stays with the Bulls.
The draft is guard heavy in the top 10, starting with Kansas standout Darryn Peterson who could go No. 1 overall. But even if the Bulls miss out on lady luck smiling down on them there’s still Houston’s Kingston Flemings, Louisville’s Mikel Brown Jr., Keaton Wagler from Illinois, Darius Acuff from Arkansas and Alabama’s Labaron Philon.
Throw any of those soon-to-be rookies into the mix and it would seem Giddey, Jones, Dillingham and Ivey would be more than enough to start the 2026-27 season with.
What also shouldn’t be ruled out? If the Bulls go big in the draft, there are whispers in the organization that they could simply look to bring Ayo Dosunmu back into the mix. He was traded to Minnesota in the Dillingham deal but will be an unrestricted free agent for a Timberwolves roster that is pushing toward the second apron.
First things first, though. There are 27 games left and it will be interesting to see how Donovan and his staff play them. More importantly, who they play them with.