I miss Derrick Rose in his prime. The Chicago Bulls were one of the best teams in the league at the height of his career. They created a young and gritty contender for the Miami Heat when they had their Big 3. The Bulls now see themselves as a part of trio of teams that will be the worst in the league next season. If only they had a genie to wish for one player that could turn them into contenders again. I wouldn't say I'm a genie, more of a dreamer. I was looking for a nice picture that would encapsulate the team that they will be putting out on the floor next season. But this ended up being the most revealing picture I could find. This would be their only chance at winning games. Tackling players. Too bad it is not legal. However, we don't care about rules here. But there is one guy that could make this team instantly a contender without breaking said rules. Let's dive into the Bulls roster and style of play first and ponder who would be the perfect fit. Fred Hoiberg hasn't done much since he made the jump from coaching college basketball. But in all fairness, he hasn't had much to work with. It is difficult to win a championship without one of the three best players in basketball, let alone get to the playoffs without a superstar at all. The Bulls have made a decision to try to build the team through youth and depth. Similar to with how the Atlanta Hawks are trying to build their team, the number one ingredient is patience. But even in failure, they have made a few moves to try to make themselves a destination in the near future. The acquisition of Zach Lavine is going to be a homerun. They took a chance on a young and injured budding star, and it looks as if it will be favorable for them. In the 27 games that he did play, he was the teams leading scorer in terms of points per game with 16.7. Free agency went about as well as it could for a team that won just 25 games last season. Jabari Parker was once looked at as the future of the Milwaukee Bucks. Until the future of the Bucks actually showed up and proved to be a terrible fit for both Parker and the team. So he chose to go back home to Illinois to try to play for a new contract in a place that looks to be a perfect fit. With him and Lavine both heading into their 5th season, they will be the veterans on a young team. Last season they were 9th in terms of Pace of Play, which is pretty interesting considering the fact that they were terrible at everything else. Kris Dunn and Lauri Markkanen both add versatility and shooting to their respective positions. And the most recent draft pick in Wendell Carter Jr. makes their young squad filled out at every position. But there is one position they haven't filled, The Killer. Kevin Durant could not only fix the Chicago Bulls, but he could fix his own legacy at the same time. Similar to how when Lebron was done in Miami, he chose to go to a terrible Cleveland team and bring a championship to a city that hadn't seen one in decades. Sure he can do it with a great squad, but can he do it with anyone? The Bulls really are a squad full of anyone's, but Kevin Durant is 100% ungaurdable. And his two Finals MVPs solidifies his rank as one of the top three players in the world. And a move to the Eastern Conference would make him instantly the best player amongst his conference opponents. As the Warriors and Bulls were completely on opposite ends of the spectrum, one thing they were similar in was Pace of Play. The Warriors were slightly faster than the Bulls as they were good enough for 5th in the league. So the transition of style would be no issue for Durant. Durant shot an unbelievable 51% from the field last season and 42% from three-point land. Pairing him with another lengthy forward in Lauri Markkanen would stretch the defense in ways unimaginable. Markkanen broke the record for fastest player ever to make 100 three-pointers. Having two 7 foot guys who can shoot three's at an efficient rate would create headaches for opposing defenses. The biggest question mark for this team would be the point guard position. But Durant was one of the best players in the NBA last season in isolation. So essentially, in a worst case scenario, Durant could just run the entire offense. And if that is a team's worst case scenario, they have a pretty could chance of being legitimate contenders. The team who led the league in attendance last season would have their best player since MJ. And the crazy Chicago fans would show nothing but love for KD. Kevin Durant could fix the Chicago Bulls, but unfortunately he wouldn't be able to fix DRose's knees *crying emoji* I miss how KD used to make me feel...
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Anthony VallesterosJust a man trying to make the most of his time on this planet. Categories
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