Bulls Notes: Lottery, Vucevic, Karnisovas, Free Agency

The Bulls believe in their foundation and don’t appear to be banking their hopes on lottery luck, wrote K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago.

In hiring coach Billy Donovan, then later trading for center Nikola Vucevic, the Bulls appear ready to try to turn the corner with the talent they have, and a few additional pieces.

“The Bulls have plenty of holes to fill. But Tuesday’s lottery and the inherent second-guessing that could accompany it should the Bulls not keep their pick overlooks something significant: You’re basically hoping a lottery pick becomes an All-Star,” Johnson wrote. “And now the Bulls have two in Vučević and (Zach) LaVine.”

More from Chicago

• Bulls chief of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas admitted the trade for Vucevic didn’t bring the the intended results. “The disappointment is short term, which is we assume that if you add another All-Star to your roster, usually you get better and improve your record,’’ Karnisovas said, via Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times. “It’s a results-driven business. Unfortunately that didn’t happen.”
• As Steve Greenburg of the Sun-Times noted, the Bulls have just a 20.3% chance to move into the top four of the draft and get to keep their first-round pick. Otherwise, it will belong to the Magic as part of the Vucevic trade.
• Suns point guard Chris Paul, Nets forward Blake Griffin and 76ers center Dwight Howard are just three of the targets the Bulls should consider targeting in free agency, according to Andrew Miller of Fansided. The Bulls’ unrestricted free agent list consists of Daniel Theis, Garrett Temple, Denzel Valentine, Al-Farouq Aminu, Luke Kornet and Cristiano Felicio.