Bulls make a pair of roster moves |
With yet another Trade Deadline come and gone and the Bulls doing nothing in terms of adding to their roster, you can see why so many fans are getting frustrated. That marks three consecutive deadlines where this team hasn't done anything as they remain stuck in mediocrity. Knowing this team has some needs and with the injuries starting to pile up, the Bulls were expected to look at the Buyout Market for potential help.
Typically, this wouldn't be the route to go, but after adding Patrick Beverley last season and playing much better down the stretch, the Bulls have had some success going after buyout players. When you look at the needs of this team, the one that jumps out the most is the perimeter shooting, as the Bulls need an influx of three-point shooters. That is why they were expected to go after Danillo Gallinari, but after he elected to take a contract from the Bucks, the Bulls needed to look elsewhere. Joe Harris was the one name that continued to pop up, but after watching his career trend downward the past two seasons, the Bulls elected to pass on him also. With one roster spot remaining on the team, the Bulls elected to promote someone from their G-League team and turned his two-way deal into a regular season contract. Most of you probably think Adama Sanogo would be the one earning the call, but instead, the Bulls elected to turn the Turkish Sharpshooter Onurlap Bitim from a two-way player to an actual NBA player. In case you have forgotten, the Bulls were in on Bitim since the start of the offseason and eventually gave him a multi-year contract on a Two-Way status. That allowed the team to put him in the G-League for developmental purposes and call him up if needed. Not only are they calling him up, but all signs point to him seeing some extended minutes after playing in less than 10 minutes this season. Adding Bitim over Sanogo may surprise some, but when you dive deeper into the decision, you can see why the Bulls made this move. For the year, Bitim has averaged 14.2 PPG, but his play since the start of the regular season has turned heads. Not only has he increased his overall production to 16.7 PPG, but he is also leading the Windy City Bulls with a 43% percentage from deep. That is No. 1 in the entire Bulls organization, including NBA players.
This move is somewhat puzzling for a team content on competing this season and making the playoffs, especially when Harris was out there. To their Point, however, this was a team in desperate need of outside shooting, and at the very least, Bitim should be able to bring that to the table. Ideally, you would've thought the Bulls would've gone with someone with more experience, but adding Bitim does come with some intrigue.
Bitim is a prospect with good positional size and a promising 3-point shot. There could even be a scenario where he turns into a decent role-player. This is similar to the Carlik Jones pickup last season when they did the same thing for him late in the year.
In a corresponding roster move to replace Bitim at the G-League, the Bulls are bringing in a familiar face in Ryan Arcidiacono. The former Villanova G spent his first several years in the league as a role player with the Bulls, but quickly turned himself into a fan favorite before his career was over.
Across his four seasons with the Bulls, Arcidiacono didn't see a ton of time on the floor as he appeared in 207 out of a possible 308 regular season games. He averaged 17.6 minutes per contest and 5.1 PPG as he did whatever was asked of him off the bench. There was a time during his final season with Chicago when he needed to step in as a starter and went on to average 10.3 PPG across six starts while shooting close to 40% from deep.
Although he has struggled to see the floor the past three seasons, seeing action in just 50 games with 20 coming this season, the Bulls know him better than anyone and know what he does well. Even if this is just a G-League deal, having Arcidiacono back in the picture is a pleasant surprise as he will now work to make it back in this league.
