The Chicago Bulls should keep their core group of players together

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May 13, 2021; Chicago, Illinois, USA; Chicago Bulls center Nikola Vucevic (9) grabs a rebound against the Toronto Raptors during the first half at United Center. Mandatory Credit: David Banks-USA TODAY Sports

Chicago Bulls should keep their core group of players: Identifying the key players

Every great team has a core group of players that their fanbase can readily identify with. While fans in Chicago are nostalgic about the years when Derrick Rose made the team a perennial contender, he is not the only fan favorite from that era.

Players like Joakim Noah, Luol Deng, Carlos Boozer and Kirk Heinrich are also hailed as important players who made those years a time to remember. This year’s team is no different.

Outside of LaVine and DeRozan, there are several other key players who Chicago should make it a priority to keep or refuse to trade. Lonzo Ball is one of the first names that comes to mind. If it weren’t for his season ending injury, the team may very well have gotten past the first round of the playoffs. No, they probably couldn’t have beaten the Milwaukee Bucks in a seven-game series, but the team was trending higher than the sixth seed when Ball went down. Given the chance to come back healthy next season, he is definitely a player the team should keep.

Another player whose season was greatly impacted by injury was second year forward Patrick Williams. He was forced to miss the majority of the year due to offseason surgery and he never fully returned to form when he was reintroduced to the lineup. However, his upside remains immeasurable meaning that any trade packages the team is offered for his services had better be good if it is to be seriously entertained.

The rest of the core is rounded out by Alex Caruso, Ayo Dosunmu, Nikola Vucevic, and Coby White. Skeptical fans may ask, is this team good enough to win an NBA championship? The answer can be found in the pairing of two elite wings, in this case Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan.

If these two perform up to their full potential, and the rest of the supporting cast is healthy, reaching the NBA Finals is not out of the question.

Next: Issues to address

Milwaukee Bucks.</p> <p>Having absolutely no answer for Giannis Antetokounmpo, the team lost their first-round series four games to one. Immediately, all of the attention turned to the upcoming offseason.</p> <h2>The offseason is a time when a lot of good teams are broken up by the business of basketball. The Chicago Bulls should not succumb to that fate.</h2> <p>Making the 2022 Playoffs marked the first time the Chicago Bulls qualified for the postseason since 2017. Ending a five-year playoff absence is a big deal in any city. It’s an even bigger deal when that city is used to having a championship contender with a perennial MVP candidate.</p> <p>Seeing the Bulls lose year after year simply did not feel right. However, the world of professional sports is built around impatience and fans in the Windy City are already discussing ways to make the team better.</p> <p>While trying to improve is always the position that every front office should take, sometimes a trade is made too soon and a player who should be part of the fabric of the team is sent out of town.</p> <p>The Chicago Bulls have several key players who contributed to this year’s run to the postseason and who should be kept together for at least one more year. Let’s take a closer look at who those players are and why the front office should keep them together.</p> <div class="next-slide slider"> <a class="next-slide-btn" style="background:#222423" data-track="shortcode" data-track-action="next-slide-shortcode" href=https://hoopshabit.com/2022/05/28/chicago-bulls-core-players/2/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> Identifying the key players </a> </div><!—pageview_candidate—><hr id="pagebreak"><div id="attachment_432674" class="wp-caption alignnone"> <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2022/05/28/chicago-bulls-core-players/2/"http://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/imagn-images/2018/08/16077021.jpeg"> "Chicago