Isaiah Hartenstein

The main reason that the Milwaukee Bucks were able to discard the Chicago Bulls with such ease was due to Chicago’s lack of interior defense. Vucevic is a better defender than his reputation states — especially in a drop scheme — but they had no depth behind him.

The Bulls have been heavily rumored to Utah Jazz All-NBA center Rudy Gobert and for good reason. With LaVine and DeRozan leading the charge, Chicago could certainly afford to sacrifice some of their offensive pieces in return for a truly transformative defender to protect their paint.

Trading for the Stifle Tower would require a king’s ransom, and the Bulls might not have the ammunition necessary, to be honest. It wouldn’t be shocking to see them outbid by a more loaded team.

For that reason, Chicago needs to have a contingency plan in place to shore up their center rotation. It shouldn’t be difficult to find a better understudy for Vucevic than Tony Bradley.

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Isaiah Hartenstein will hit unrestricted free agency this summer and should be available at an affordable price. While he’s not elite in any area, he’s solid on both ends of the court and comes with plenty of size and athleticism.

He would form a nice offense-defense rotation with Vucevic and is young enough to grow alongside the Chicago Bulls’ young core. He’ll turn just 24 years old next season, has plenty of potential, and could be had with just a portion of their mid-level exception.