Chicago Bulls: 3 free agent targets to pair with Zach LaVine

Chicago Bulls</a> finished the season as the 11th seed in the Eastern Conference. This is a promising sign as they only missed a play-in game by two games.</p> <p>They had a spectacular trade deadline in which they added Nikola Vucevic, Daniel Theis, Javonte Green, Troy Brown Jr. and Al-Farouq Aminu.</p> <p>While they had to trade some of their youth and draft capital for this haul, it was well worth it. This trade deadline could go on to be what saves the Bulls from an even longer rebuild than the one that they are finally working their way out of.</p> <h2>The Chicago Bulls had a great trade deadline, but they’ll need to make savvy free-agent decisions to provide Zach LaVine the help he requires.</h2> <p>Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas is looking to follow up his impressive trade deadline with an even more spectacular offseason.</p> <p>Chicago is one of the biggest free-agent destinations in the NBA, and despite the Bulls missing out on marquee free agents for an extended amount of time, it is still a place that stars want to play.</p> <p>One of the key reasons why they have not been able to land big names in the past few years is that there has not been enough talent around them to draw in a star.</p> <p>The 2021 free agency class is a rather weak one and there are not too many stars hitting the market.</p> <p>With that being said, there are young players with high potential and skilled veterans that can serve as mentors that the Bulls should keep on their radar.</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/2021/06/29/chicago-bulls-free-agent-zach-lavine/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 3: Resign Lauri Markkanen and extend Zach LaVine </a> </div><!—pageview_candidate—><hr id="pagebreak"><div id="attachment_392929" class="wp-caption aligncenter"> <img class="size-full wp-image-392929" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/06/29/chicago-bulls-free-agent-zach-lavine/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2130,w_3200/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F1187924731.jpeg" alt="chicago bulls" width="3200" height="2130" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1187924731.jpeg 3200w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/1187924731-768x511.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><div class="fs-center-img"> <p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:3200px;">Chicago Bulls, Zach LaVine (Photo by Stacy Revere Getty Images)</p> </div> </div> <h2><strong>Free-agency goals for the Chicago Bulls: 3. Re-sign Lauri Markkanen and extend Zach LaVine</strong></h2> <p>The first thing that the Chicago Bulls should do in free agency is resigning <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/06/29/chicago-bulls-free-agent-zach-lavine/"https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/m/markkla01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-%22 target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" ref="nofollow">Lauri Markkanen</a> and giving <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/06/29/chicago-bulls-free-agent-zach-lavine/"https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/l/lavinza01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-%22 target="_blank" rel="noopener" ref="nofollow">Zach LaVine</a> a contract extension.</p> <p>Markkanen has not shown much growth as a player since he entered this league. Comparing his rookie season to this season, the only major improvement he has made to his game has been 3-point percentage. If anything, it could be argued that Markkanen has regressed more than anything since joining the league.</p> <p>Despite this, he has become more efficient. He is shooting a career-high field goal and 3-point percentage.</p> <p>This can be explained away as having a lesser role in the offense since his rookie year. However, after drafting him, it was expected that he would be a franchise-level player.</p> <p>Even though Markkanen has fallen short of the expectations set for him when he entered the league, he is still a good player.</p> <p>A stretch five that shoots 40.2 percent from three is something that would be a big loss for the Bulls if they plan on making playoff pushes for years to come.</p> <p>Even if they are not, Markkanen would be a hot commodity on the trade market. No matter Chicago’s plan for Markkanen in the future, it is essential that they resign him in free agency.</p> <p>Along with this, they need to make sure that they extend LaVine as soon as possible.</p> <p>He is the deciding factor in the future of the team. If he decides that he wants to resign with the Bulls, they will immediately go into a win-now mentality.</p> <p>However, if he chooses to move on from the Bulls, it is best that they find out now and try to move on from aging veterans.</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/2021/06/29/chicago-bulls-free-agent-zach-lavine/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 2: Bring back Derrick Rose </a> </div><!—pageview_candidate—><hr id="pagebreak"><div id="attachment_426870" class="wp-caption aligncenter"> <img class="size-full wp-image-426870" src=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/06/29/chicago-bulls-free-agent-zach-lavine/"https://images2.minutemediacdn.com/image/fetch/c_fill,g_auto,f_auto,h_2083,w_3200/http%3A%2F%2Fhoopshabit.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2Fgetty-images%2F2018%2F08%2F519700120.jpeg" alt="" width="3200" height="2083" srcset="https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/519700120.jpeg 3200w, https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/getty-images/2018/08/519700120-768x500.jpeg 768w" sizes="(max-width: 3200px) 100vw, 3200px"><div class="fs-center-img"> <p class="wp-caption-text" style="width:3200px;">Chicago Bulls, Zach LaVine (Photo by Mike Ehrmann/Getty Images)</p> </div> </div> <h2><strong>Free-agency goals for the Chicago Bulls: 2. Bring back Derrick Rose</strong></h2> <p>The second thing that the Chicago Bulls should do is bring <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/06/29/chicago-bulls-free-agent-zach-lavine/"https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/r/rosede01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-%22 target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" ref="nofollow">Derrick Rose</a> back to the team. Rose is a Chicago native and a player that fans rallied around during his time with the Bulls.</p> <p>It was heartbreaking to fans and Rose himself when he was traded from the Bulls to the New York Knicks.</p> <p>Besides just being a good storyline and a boost in ticket sales, there are on-the-court reasons why Rose needs to make a return to Chicago.</p> <p>The first being he is a skilled veteran guard that in flashes looked like the prime D-Rose from his days with the Bulls.</p> <p>He is beginning to adopt a veteran guard’s skill set. He is having his best shooting season from three at 38.8%.</p> <p>Also, he would be a great veteran mentor and leader on the team. With the Bulls roster being flooded with young guards like Zach LaVine and <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/06/29/chicago-bulls-free-agent-zach-lavine/"https://www.basketball-reference.com/players/w/whiteco01.html?utm_campaign=Linker&amp;utm_source=direct&amp;utm_medium=linker-%22 target="_blank" rel="nofollow noopener" ref="nofollow">Coby White</a>, Rose would be able to teach and mold their games. This would be incredible for their development.</p> <p>Being back in Chicago could be enough for Rose to start playing like his old self again. Obviously, this does not mean that he will be the high-flying MVP from 2011, however, he could be a more than capable starter or a 6th man of the year candidate.</p> <p>Despite falling short to the Atlanta Hawks in the first round of the playoffs, Rose proved that he could be a major contributor when the games matter the most, even when coming off of the bench.</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/2021/06/29/chicago-bulls-free-agent-zach-lavine/"#"> <span class="title">Next:</span> No. 1: Sign Lonzo Ball </a> </div><!—pageview_candidate—><hr id="pagebreak"><div id="attachment_426871" class="wp-caption aligncenter"> <a href=https://hoopshabit.com/2021/06/29/chicago-bulls-free-agent-zach-lavine/"https://hoopshabit.com/wp-content/uploads/imagn-images/2018/08/15558077.jpeg"> <span class="call_to_action">Next:</span>&nbsp;Warriors: Why they shouldn&#039;t trade for Ben Simmons </a> </div> </div><!—pageview_candidate—>">