The NBA probably could have granted the Chicago Bulls their disabled player exception the moment the request arrived in the mail.
Lonzo Ball has undergone three knee surgeries since January 2022. With that in mind, the front office made clear in their first conversation with reporters this offseason that they fully expect Ball to remain sidelined for the entirety of the 2023-24 season. And, while they didn’t comment on his future past this year, the chance of him simply never taking the NBA court again is far higher than anyone would like to admit.
So, yeah, the question has never really been whether or not the league would hand Chicago an exception worth half of Ball’s 2023-24 salary ($10.2). Instead, what we should all be asking is … will the Chicago Bulls even use it? I don’t want to re-hash all the logistics, so I’ll direct your attention to our post here that outlines all the restrictions that come with receiving the DPE. The biggest takeaway is that this isn’t money that replaces Ball’s on the cap sheet. In other words, if the Bulls were to use all of it right now, they would be going into the luxury tax. And, well, we all know that isn’t their favorite thing to do.
The other big thing to keep in mind is that it’s probably more likely than not that the Chicago Bulls wait to consider using this during the season. The DPE can only be used to sign a player to a one-year deal OR to acquire a player on an expiring contract. So I wouldn’t be shocked if the front office wants to wait until the trade deadline to see where this team is at before deciding if they want to enter the luxury tax and go all-in on a playoff run.
Even if the Chicago Bulls were near the top of the East around the deadline, however, I can so easily see this organization pretending as if they don’t need to use the DPE. Instead of pursuing an upgrade and entering the tax, they would say something like “we were already performing so well and didn’t want to rock the boat.” I will be SOOOOOOOO freakin’ frustrated if that happens.
The Chicago Bulls’ final Summer League game is set. Dalen Terry and Co. will face the Wizards on Saturday at 4:00 p.m. CT and look to end their Las Vegas trip with a winning record.
While the basketball was, once again, pretty darn ugly, I at least enjoyed the back-and-forth nature of Thursday afternoon’s game. The length and versatility of guys like Terry, Julian Phillips, and Henri Drell helped force the undefeated Cavs into 19 total turnovers. Their ability to play uptempo and in transition is a big reason they were able to string together some runs. Indeed, I think heading into next season, defense may surprisingly continue to be the Chicago Bulls’ bread-and-butter. Led by Alex Caruso, they have some really pesky on-ball defenders in the backcourt between him and Jevon Carter. Both can blow up the point of attack and make the frontcourt’s job a lot easier. Meanwhile, guys like Phillips, Torrey Craig, and Patrick Williams provide the Bulls with real length and switchability at the wing. I’m excited to watch this team on that end this year.
The Bulls also hung around yesterday in large part due to their relentless effort on the offensive glass. The team grabbed 18 offensive rebounds to the Cavs’ 13. Adama Sanogo grabbed four of his own REBs, while Jontay Porter ate up 5 off the bench. Overall, five players finished with at least 2 OREBs.
This continues to be an area where I think the Bulls can improve somewhat significantly this season. They finished 28th in OREB% in each of the past two seasons. As elite as both Andre Drummond and Nikola Vucevic can be on the glass, one player on the court can’t be doing all the work. Anyway, we also touched on this a bit in yesterday’s bullets, so I won’t dwell on it. But I do think adding guys like Torrey Craig and Julian Phillips can help give this team a much-needed boost when it comes to creating extra possessions.
Phillips didn’t blow me away in his third Summer League game, but he made some solid plays and continued to get to the free-throw line. The lack of an ability to create his own shot off the dribble remains a relatively big concern. But there remains plenty of potential for his jumper to improve, especially since he’s a pretty good free-throw shooter.
I’m hoping we get to see a couple of fastbreak dunks from Phillips this year.
Meanwhile, Terry remains ice cold from the field after a 4-13 showing. I like what I’ve seen defensively and the playmaking is still there. But OOF he looks like a potential offensive liability right now.
Dalen Terry in four summer league games:
10.8 points per game 15-of-55 from field (27.3%) 4-of-18 from three (22.2%) 9-of-13 from foul line (69.2%) 20 rebounds 14 assists 9 steals 3 blocks 7 turnovers— Ricky O'Donnell (@SBN_Ricky) July 13, 2023
He’ll be in the top 10 by the time mid-season comes around.
Elias Schuster is the Lead Chicago Bulls writer at Bleacher Nation. He started with BN full-time in 2019 immediately after graduating from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign with a degree in Journalism (yes, he started with the Jim Boylen Era). Since joining, Elias has been the driving force behind Bulls and NBA content for both the site and social accounts. You can follow him on Twitter/X @Schuster_Elias.
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