Nah don't know about many fans wanting to tank. Couple of weeks leading up to and now draft has been I'd say its half and half.
I'm gutted they traded Jimmy and in my opinion I would've still built a team around him but I know how American sports works and I know all this has to happen. In a couple of weeks I'll probably like the idea of a rebuild. I just don't trust this front office to do it. Not one damn bit. They made this mess.
June 22nd, 2016: Bulls trade Derrick Rose to the New York Knicks.
June 22nd, 2017: Bulls trade Jimmy Butler to the Minnesota Timberwolves.
With that the roster during the Tom Thibodeau era is officially over. I'm gonna miss that squad though. Gonna miss how hard those guys worked under Thibs. Gonna miss feeling like Bulls always had a chance.
That Bulls team was finished the moment Rose blew up his knee. Personally, I think that they are 12 months late with the rebuilding. There was absolutely no need for the Rondo/Wade experiment. Had they traded Butler to Boston last June and tanked, they would have had a couple of top 5 picks this June.
Still, they have some nice pieces to start the rebuilding. They obviously like
Dunn a lot, and he could still become a good starting level PG.
Grant and
Payne will also have their chance to impress for the backup PG role. It will be interesting to see how strong
LaVine will come back from his injury, but he was putting up some great numbers before the injury, and he is definitely a starting level SG talent.
Valentine will also get more minutes, especially until LaVine is back, so the Bulls might end up with a pretty good SG combo.
Canaan will also get some decent playing time until LaVine is back, but I don't see him being there in the long term. I don't know what is their plan for the SF spot, but
Zipser has already shown that he can be a competent backup for the position. As for the PF position, Bulls FO have already confirmed that they will be bringing
Mirotic back, so they won't be throwing
Markkanen into the deep from the start. I like Markkanen a lot, and I think that he has a genuine All Star potential. Maybe not at Dirk's level, but definitely a talent who could become one of the top big man shooters in the league for years to come.
Portis will also get more minutes, maybe even some of them at the C position. Also, they will probably bring
Felicio back on a decent contract, since he is still relatively young.
The obvious odd men out are the veterans and highest earners
Wade,
Rondo and
Lopez. I expect that the Bulls will try to buy out Wade, so they can save some money, and give the player a chance to finish his career playing for a contender. Since only $3 million of Rondo's last year is guaranteed, that is probably where the money from the sale of the 38th pick will go. As for Lopez, I am not sure what they will do with him, but considering that he is still productive and that his contract is not awful, they might try to trade him to a contender for some young assets in return.