{"id":93258,"date":"2024-08-30T11:33:45","date_gmt":"2024-08-30T15:33:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=93258"},"modified":"2024-08-30T11:33:45","modified_gmt":"2024-08-30T15:33:45","slug":"expectations-for-chicago-bulls-newcomers-in-2024-2025","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/08\/30\/expectations-for-chicago-bulls-newcomers-in-2024-2025\/","title":{"rendered":"Expectations for Chicago Bulls Newcomers in 2024-2025"},"content":{"rendered":"

This offseason the Chicago Bulls<\/a> made a few moves to rebuild and get younger. Most notably let DeMar DeRozan<\/a>, walk and traded\u00a0Alex Caruso<\/a>. Rookie\u00a0Matas Buzelis<\/a><\/span> is a centerpiece of the Bulls’ youth movement. The Bulls now have several intriguing young players and newcomers. Let’s dive into their potential impact and roles with the team.<\/p>\n

Expectations for Chicago Bulls Newcomers in 2024-2025<\/b><\/h2>\n

Josh Giddey<\/b><\/h3>\n

Josh Giddey<\/a>, who the Bulls flipped<\/a> Alex Caruso<\/a> for, is likely to have the biggest impact of all the Bulls’ new additions during the upcoming season. A 6-foot-8 playmaking lead guard who has long struggled with his perimeter jumper, Giddey’s strengths and weaknesses are well-defined. Caruso may currently be the more dynamic and impactful player. However, Giddey\u2014still just 21\u2014makes more sense for the (semi) rebuilding Chicago Bulls. Giddey especially makes sense for the Bulls, if Lonzo Ball<\/a>\u2019s injury absence continues for three years\u2014an unfortunate, but likely scenario.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As a perimeter player, it is tough to succeed in the modern NBA without a reliable outside jumper. There are exceptions, however, Rajon Rondo<\/a> carved out a lengthy and lucrative career for himself while never truly threatening as a 32.4% three-point shooter.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Even Ben Simmons<\/a>\u2014who no one wants to be compared to nowadays\u2014was once a truly dynamic and forceful lead playmaker, despite literally zero threat of an outside jump shot. Now, all that being said, Giddey\u2019s lack of a jump shot is still an issue. The possibility of him ever developing into an All-Star-level player is significantly hampered by it. Nevertheless, Giddey does blend an intriguing mix of size, smarts, and under-the-radar athleticism. Making it easy to buy into the idea of him elevating the surrounding talent in Chicago during the upcoming campaign.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Matas Buzelis<\/b><\/h3>\n

During the 2024 NBA Draft, the Bulls selected Chicago native Matas Buzelis<\/a> with the 11th overall pick. Judging purely from what we\u2019ve seen from the Summer league, it appears as though the Bulls found a long-term keeper. Coming out of a draft class no one seemed particularly excited about, Buzelis<\/a> who was always projected as one of the prospects with the highest perceived ceiling. For a franchise like the Bulls, who have a handful of decent to good young players but no true cornerstone, taking a chance on a young talent like Buzelis makes a ton of sense.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

As things currently stand, Buzelis appears to be buried behind either Zach LaVine<\/a> at the three spot or Patrick Williams<\/a> at the four. However, given the injury history of both of those players, don’t be surprised if Buzelis finds his way into the starting lineup at some point during the season. If Buzelis does manage to secure a consistent role for the Bulls\u2014whether in the starting five or off the bench\u2014expect some inconsistency to be in order. <\/span><\/p>\n

Buzelis is oozing with potential and has a well-rounded skill set. But, he is also rail-thin for a 6-foot-10 forward and still relies too heavily on his athleticism at this stage of his development. Even still, with the right amount of opportunity, Buzelis should make an intriguing run at Rookie of the Year honors. Just understand that the numbers he does put up are likely to be equal parts exciting and inefficient. Similar to the ones he put up during Summer League<\/a>, (16.4 ppg, 4.2 rpg, 33.7 FG%, 21. 4 3PT%). Regardless, Buzelis is an important part of Chicago’s future and he could have a high-quality rookie season.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Jalen Smith & Chris Duarte\u00a0<\/b><\/h3>\n

Jalen Smith<\/a> is a former lottery pick who has developed into a relatively useful role player. As a member of the Indiana Pacers last year, Smith averaged 9.9 ppg, while shooting 42.4% from distance. Standing at 6-foot-9 and weighing in at 215, Smith is a bit undersized as a five. However he can still be a solid backup big. If Smith is able to duplicate his long-range shooting from a year ago, he should prove to be a useful\u2014albeit low-impact\u2014piece of\u00a0Billy Donovan<\/a>\u2019s rotation.<\/span><\/p>\n

Much of what can be said about Jalen Smith can be restated about Chris Duarte<\/a>. Both players are former lottery picks who\u2019ve never quite popped but have settled in as decent off-the-bench role players. Duarte is a perfectly fine 3-and-D player capable of soaking up rotation minutes every now and again. However, he shouldn\u2019t be in line to take any development reps away from players like Buzelis, Patrick Williams, or Dalen Terry<\/a>. <\/span><\/p>\n

Duarte\u2019s career has regressed somewhat since coming on strong as a rookie, averaging 13.1 ppg and shooting 36.9% from three. So he could look to regain some sort of career momentum in what should be a low-pressure environment. In all likelihood, however, Duarte\u2019s biggest impact on the Bulls next season will be off the court. Ideally, Duarte can be a positive locker room presence and provide knowledge and guidance to some of the younger players.<\/span><\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

This offseason the Chicago Bulls made a few moves to rebuild and get younger. Most notably let DeMar DeRozan, walk and traded\u00a0Alex Caruso. Rookie\u00a0Matas Buzelis is a centerpiece of the Bulls’ youth movement. The Bulls now have several intriguing young players and newcomers. Let’s dive into their potential impact and roles with the team. Expectations […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5268,"featured_media":93556,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"1","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,8,11,62,1248,3,29],"tags":[4268,2524,4276,49148],"class_list":["post-93258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-bulls","category-pacers","category-nba","category-nba-season-previews","category-news","category-kings","tag-chris-duarte","tag-jalen-smith","tag-josh-giddey","tag-matas-buzelis"],"modified_by":"Eamon Cassels, Editor","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5268"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=93258"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/93258\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/93556"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=93258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=93258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=93258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}