REPORT: Bulls Will Be A Factor In Free Agency

The toughest part about watching your favorite team rebuild is being patient and trusting things will get better eventually. According to ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the Chicago Bulls might be speeding up their rebuild as soon as this offseason through free agency. In the following clip, Wojnarowski says the Bulls will be a factor come July 1, the start of free agency in the NBA.

We can immediately shoot down the whole, "well it's Chicago, players love Chicago," angle because there haven't been many good free agents coming to the city. Yet, the Bulls do have an interesting young core and Lauri Markkanen is front and center, as the player the team is hoping will attract big names.  But exactly how big are the names that the Bulls will go after this free agency? NBC Sports Chicago's Mark Schanowski threw out some of the players that could be in play for the Bulls if they really are looking to speed up their rebuild. Although again, probably not the superstars the Bulls need to be serious contenders.

Hard pass on Jabari Parker and Marcus Smart. Out of that group of names Clint Capela is obviously No. 1, and obviously being a restricted free agent the Houston Rockets will most likely match any offer sheet. However, there is the chance the Rockets don't bring back Capela because they could be going after LeBron James and Chris Paul wants a max deal too. So, maybe Capela to the Bulls to pair up with Lauri? If the Bulls really are sneaky like Wojnarowski says, we could see the Bulls back in the playoffs as soon as next season, if they also hit on their lottery pick in the draft. Yet, personally I don't want the Bulls to be active this free agency because the goal shouldn't be to just return to the playoffs. We've seen this story before. We want the Bulls to be serious contenders to at the minimum be competing for a trip to the finals. Signing any of the second or third-tier free agents this offseason isn't really getting me that excited and certainly won't make the Bulls a top-3 team in the East. There's no reason to take a shortcut during this rebuild. The Bulls front office, just like the fan base, has to be patient.