Take it from Butler, Bulls should not rebuild again

With Zach LaVine on the bench and Jimmy Butler on the opposing team Saturday in Miami, this feels like a good time to repeat this public service announcement:

Rebuilding is a bad idea in the NBA.

That was true in 2017 when the Bulls made the ridiculous decision to trade Butler to Minnesota for LaVine, Kris Dunn and Lauri Markkanen. And it’s true today, as some people call for the Bulls to blow up the roster and start over.

Butler did some dramatic haunting of his former team Saturday, hitting a 20-foot step-back jumper at the buzzer to give the Heat a 118-116 victory. Coby White scored 18 of his 22 points in the fourth quarter, but it wasn’t enough for the Bulls.

The reason not to rebuild should be obvious, especially since the Bulls already provided an example of what not to do in 2017. The NBA Draft isn’t even a crap shoot these days, more like a lotto jackpot – long odds against winning.

Let’s start in 2017 and count the number of top seven draft picks who turned their teams into winners. Counting Markkanen, the Bulls have picked No. 7 or higher in the draft four times since the Butler trade.

I’d say there’s four – Jayson Tatum, Luka Doncic, De’Aaron Fox and Ja Morant. If you don’t count this year’s rookies, that’s four great picks out of 42 from 2017-22, a 9.5% chance of success.

Now, there’s been a few other draft picks who have been very good and helped their team win, like Cleveland’s Darius Garland, Minnesota’s Anthony Edwards, Atlanta’s Trae Young. Oklahoma City is doing well with Josh Giddey and Chet Holmgren..

But those examples had other contributing factors. Garland was paired with another all-star, Donovan Mitchell. Edwards joined a team that had an all-NBA center in Karl-Anthony Towns. Young made one trip to the Eastern Conference finals, but hasn’t continued the success.

Here’s one strange fact about NBA teams on the rise. Two teams currently in playoff position, Indiana and Oklahoma City, both got a boost by trading away Paul George. The Pacers got Domantis Sabonis when they sent George to OKC, then swapped Sabonis for rising star Tyrese Haliburton.

When the Thunder traded George to the Clippers, it received a future all-NBA player in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. OKC’s young nucleus would likely still be in the lottery without that move.

Starting over again would be painful for the Bulls and they might end up just like the 2-24 Detroit Pistons. Even with a supposed lottery prize like Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio is 4-20 with no guarantee of future championships.

The first step to improving in the NBA is becoming a preferred destination, then add talent with trades or free-agency. The Bulls have struggled in that category, but are showing promise with the development of White, Alex Caruso and Ayo Dosunmu. They’ll get to keep their 2024 draft pick, so there are avenues for continued improvement.

The Bulls (10-17) even got an angry performance from Patrick Williams on Saturday. He got 2 early fouls and had to take a seat, but returned with a vengeance, scoring 25 points, including a poster dunk over Jaime Jaquez. DeMar DeRozan led the Bulls with 27.

Torrey Craig was hot early, scoring 16 points, but limped to the locker room with a foot injury in the second quarter and did not return. Caruso (ankle) did not play.

The Bulls trailed by 11 heading into the fourth quarter, but rallied to take the lead a few times, the latest at 116-114 after a White drive with 1:28 left. In the final minute, Nikola Vucevic missed 2 shots and DeRozan lost the ball for a turnover.

Earlier in the day, the Bulls signed Windy City veteran Henri Drell to a two-way contract and released Justin Lewis.

Twitter: @McGrawDHSports