Why The Chicago Bulls Do The Deal
Of course, some fans will think they see an inconsistency here. If we didn’t want to send Poeltl to Sacramento on account of Sabonis, why do we have him stepping on Nikola Vucevic’s toes?
Well, there’s a notable difference in how these teams are constructed. Sabonis is vital to the KIng’s offense – it’ll be entirely built around him and De’Aaron Fox. On the other hand, Vucevic has DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine ahead of him in the Bulls’ pecking order. He may not be the center they need.
At least, he didn’t appear to be in 2021-22. The Bulls didn’t have room to run many possessions that featured Vucevic’s low block scoring/playmaking.
Given his defensive shortcomings, he’s not really worth starting if you’re not going to capitalize on his skills. The Bulls would likely be better off with a more defensive-minded big.
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One like, for example, Jakob Poeltl. Furthermore, the Bulls could use Vucevic as a sixth man following this deal, giving him full command of the second unit. That may not be what they envisioned when they gave up a sizeable return to the Orlando Magic for him, but sometimes, decisions don’t go according to plan:
After all, there’s nothing easy about building an NBA team.
