Bulls continue overhaul, trade Coby White to Charlotte and not done
The scouting report was given unprompted.
Coby White sat in front of his locker after a Dec. 12 game in Charlotte and started raving about “The Rook.”
White’s take was Hornets sharp-shooter Kon Knueppel was as advanced a first-year player as he could remember seeing in his seven years in the NBA.
Good news because the two are about to become real close acquaintances now.
Continuing the overhaul of a roster that was stuck in the middle far too long, the Bulls and executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas sent the longest tenured Bull in White to the Hornets, packaging in newly-acquired Mike Conley Jr, and getting back Collin Sexton, Ousmane Dieng — acquired from Oklahoma City — and three second-round picks.
This all within 24 hours of Karnisovas trading Nikola Vucevic to Boston for Anfernee Simons and a swapping of second-round picks, as well as Kevin Huerter and Dario Saric in a three-team deal that landed the Bulls Jaden Ivey and Conley.
And according to a source, the Bulls aren’t done. Expect more attempted moves by Thursday’s 2 p.m. trade deadline, and more business expected come July when the financially flexible Bulls can start trying to poach restricted free agents that fit the timelines of Matas Buzelis, Josh Giddey and Ivey.
Coach Billy Donovan hinted that the deadline was just the first iteration of this roster rebuild.
“I understand that those guys (in the front office) are investing a lot of time on the phone right now,” Donovan said. “I’m sure it’s very hectic. They’ve always been really good — the front office — giving me a heads up when things are going to happen, things that they want to do. Those conversations as we move forward, there will be a next iteration to that down the road.”
First things first, the Bulls did a solid for Vucevic by sending him to an Eastern Conference contender. Vucevic was initially surprised by not only the trade, but the team he was sent to. Over the weekend, the only organization he felt was in play was Golden State, and that was a long shot.
Huerter and White also found upgrades, with Huerter on the top contending team in the East and White — a North Carolina native — going home to play for one of the hotter teams in the last month, as well as Knueppel.
All well and good, but where does that leave the Bulls?
Still working the phones with a lot of focus with New Orleans and Houston, according to a source.
Simons and Sexton are both free agents after the season and are still in play to be moved, while Ayo Dosunmu is being sought after, but the Bulls would have to be blown away to part with him. Yes, Buzelis, Giddey and Ivey are keepers — not untouchable, but keepers — and Dosunmu, who is also a free agent, is a close fourth.
Ideally, the Bulls would like to re-sign him this summer, but everything is fluid.
The obvious question now is what to do in the frontcourt? The Bulls have been linked to Zion Williamson, but the Pelicans haven’t budged on that front, while the Rockets’ Tari Eason has been in play. Big man Yves Missi has been discussed but there was a stalemate.
What Karnisovas has on his side is a lot of money to spend, using the summer to get in a bidding war for restricted free agents like Bennedict Mathurin, Jalen Duren, Eason and Walker Kessler. If he could land any of those players now he would do it because then the organization controls the matching rights to a market that doesn’t have a lot of money to spend.
Either way, it’s an ambitious plan, but at least it’s a direction for the Bulls.