The Chicago Bulls who were in previous seasons considered title contenders have to do a little bit of soul searching. The Bulls finished the season 42-40 and missed the playoffs under new head coach Fred Hoiberg. The Bulls will have to make some adjustments to their roster if they want to get back into the mix of being a title contender once again. According to A. Sherrod Blakely of CSNNE.com the Bulls plan on holding on to their best player Jimmy Butler.
“A league source tells CSNNE.com that the Bulls, while still open to listening offers for Butler are telling teams that are inquiring about his availability that their plan for now is to keep him in the fold.
And while there was some thought that a top-3 pick coupled with a few decent players might be enough to entice the Bulls to pull the trigger on a deal to trade Butler, CSNNE.com has been told such an offer would have to include at least one “legitimate, NBA starter” for the Bulls to even possibly consider trading him.
“And that might be a stretch,” the source indicated.”
The Bulls have Butler under contract until at least the summer of 2019. The Bulls are actually getting a bargain deal on Butler because he signed a max contract last summer, and the salary cap for all teams is set to go up this summer which would have cost the Bulls a lot more to resign their best player.
The Bulls have some aging players on their roster, and an ailing star in Derrick Rose who can’t stay healthy so it makes no sense to move Jimmy Butler at the moment. Everyone besides Butler should be up for grabs, but the question will be how much they will get back in return for their aging players.
At the end of the day it’s a business so if the Bulls decide to part ways with their best player don’t be surprised.