The Bulls off-season moves

   The Bulls definitely have a new look to the roster this year. They lost much of the bench mob with the departures of Omer Asik, Ronnie Brewer, CJ Watson, John Lucas III, Kyle Korver, and Brian Scalabrine. But they are bringing in some pieces, namely Nazr Mohommad, Marco Belinelli, Vladmir Radmanovic, and Nate Robinson plus the return of Captain Kirk.

   In terms of basketball talent on the roster, the Bulls clearly got worse this off-season. They lost the best back-up center in the league and a legitimate 7 footer in Omer Asik and are replacing him with aged Chicago native Nazr Mohammad. They lost one of the best 3-point shooters in the league in Kyle Korver, and are replacing him with Belinelli, a worse, though by no means poor, 3-point shooter who is also a bit deficient on the defensive end. The replacement of CJ Watson and John Lucas with Heinrich and Robinson is probably something of an upgrade due to Heinrich's defensive prowess and leadership, but the Bulls need offense not defense, especially with the absence of Rose. Vladmir Radmanovic will likely (read: hopefully) not see the court much.

  What they did do this off-season, is keep the door open for future improvements. The decision to not match the Rockets offer sheet signed by Omer was unquestionably the correct one. You cannot pay $15,000,000 to a backup center as would have been required in the  deals 3rd year- it would have destroyed the Bulls flexibility. So while I hate to see him go, I do not see myself ever thinking that the Bulls would have won that championship had we forked over for Asik. While outbidding the Nets for CJ Watson could have been done without adversely affecting the Bulls future flexibility, my hope is that they let him walk in order to develop the rookie Teague. If Marcus has skills anything like his brothers (the Hawks Jeff Teague), he could be quite the asset as Rose's long term backup. Kyle Korver was probably going to be over-paid after his contract expired at the end of the season, so I understand getting rid of him now and getting something, however small to show for it, especially since the Bulls are not in contention this year. And who knows, maybe Belinelli plays well and the Bulls can lock up a younger player long term. 

  While the off-season was not what one would call exciting, it is good that the Bulls refrained from hamstringing themselves in the future in order to remain more competitive this season. Hopefully their restraint, especially in letting Asik leave, will pay dividends. And hey, we can all smile that Captain Kirk is back in Chicago.