The report lists the Chicago Bulls as a team whose rebuild is taking too long

NBA teams regularly go through cycles. Even the most dominant squads—such as the Chicago Bulls during the 90s—will eventually have to rebuild and start anew. This process can take a few years, but sometimes, it can drag on for much longer than expected. 

According to Bleacher Report, the Bulls are one of the teams facing this dilemma. Experts believe the organization, which recently didn’t do a single thing during last week’s trade deadline, may be stuck in a perpetual state of mediocrity.

Lack of direction

After Michael Jordan’s reign in Chicago ended with the franchise’s last NBA title in 1998, the Bulls went through a decade of ineptitude before landing Derrick Rose. Unfortunately, Rose’s rise to superstardom was abruptly cut off by an ACL tear, and the team has been struggling to find a new star ever since.

The current Bulls squad has numerous veteran aces leading the squad in DeMar DeRozan, Nikola Vucevic, and Zach LaVine. However, this “Big 3” has not panned out, and the numbers clearly show they don’t mesh well. Although the Bulls made the NBA Playoffs in 2021, they proceeded to miss it last season. Overall, Chicago has won only one playoff game since 2015.

That said, shouldn’t management take a long look at this roster and realize that it’s just not good enough? Unfortunately for the Bulls’ faithful, the decision-makers don’t see it that way.

“Here's how you know the Chicago Bulls' rebuild is off schedule: It hasn't even started yet,” Grant Hughes wrote.

“Chicago's inactivity at the recent trade deadline, in which the team made no trades for the third straight year, stemmed from this mindset executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas revealed to K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago: ‘The vision this year is making a push for the playoffs. Every season, we want to be competitive, especially with the parity in the East.’”

Ninth place

The Bulls are seemingly content to be in ninth place in the Eastern Conference, which is good for a spot in the Play-In Tournament—the same tournament they were in last season, where they fell short of nabbing the eighth seed after getting defeated by the Miami Heat. However, this squad isn’t the same as last season’s, as All-Star Zach LaVine is done for the season due to surgery on his ailing foot.

“The best-case scenario seems to be a first-round elimination,” Hughes surmised.

“No meaningful postseason success for almost a decade, no clear cornerstone in place and seemingly no intention of resetting in pursuit of one—the Bulls are perhaps the league's most committed in-the-middle organization,” Hughes concluded.