Bulls finally have a direction, with Caleb Wilson at center of it

The Bulls haven’t won a playoff series since 2015. They haven’t even made the playoffs in four years. At least now, they appear to have a plan.

Chicago underwent a significant makeover this offseason, hiring Bryson Graham to run basketball operations and Tiago Splitter as coach, then selecting North Carolina forward Caleb Wilson with the No. 4 overall pick.

As ESPN’s NBA staff noted in its season preview, Wilson is essentially being positioned as the new face of the franchise.

The Bulls also added veterans Norman Powell and Nic Claxton while re-signing Zach Collins, giving their young core some experienced help. But this season figures to be mostly about determining who belongs alongside Wilson for the long haul.

That includes Josh Giddey, Matas Buzelis, Rob Dillingham and 2025 first-round pick Noa Essengue. Wilson, though, is the big one.

ESPN’s Ben Golliver noted that Wilson drew comparisons to Kevin Garnett and Paul George after an impressive summer league. That’s obviously some serious company, and nobody should expect Wilson to immediately become either.

Still, a young group featuring Giddey pushing the ball, Buzelis running the floor and Wilson finishing above the rim could at least make the Bulls fun again.

There are questions. ESPN gave Chicago’s offseason a C-plus, wondering whether its cap space might have been better used to collect additional draft assets instead of adding veterans.

But after years of hanging around the NBA’s middle without accomplishing much, the Bulls finally seem committed to something different. Now comes the hard part: Finding out whether Wilson is the player who can make it work.