Timberwolves Free Agency: Chicago Bulls Edition

As we wind our way through all of the recently-eliminated NBA playoff teams to search for potential fits with the Timberwolves, we land on Tom Thibodeau’s former employer, the Chicago Bulls.

The Chicago Bulls had a decidedly up-and-down season after a disastrous first year under then-rookie head coach Fred Hoiberg. It culminated in a 41-41 record and the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference, which meant a first-round match-up with the Boston Celtics.

The Bulls won the first two games of the series on the road in Boston and were in fantastic position to make history with an enormous upset. But the Celtics won four straight and finished off Hoiberg’s crew in Game Six at TD Garden in Boston.

Hoiberg as gone 83-81 over his first two seasons as an NBA head coach, and a .500 record ultimately wasn’t the worst thing after an odd off-season that saw Chicago acquire a number of non-shooters to supplement their existing roster. Rajon Rondo, Michael Carter-Williams, and Dwyane Wade all have career three-point shooting percentages that are well below average, and they were the top minutes-getters alongside Jimmy Butler in the Bulls’ back court.

Ultimately, Chicago played well enough down the stretch to squeak into the playoffs and probably save Hoiberg’s job. The tricky thing is that following the mid-season trade that shipped Taj Gibson and Doug McDermott to Oklahoma City and brought back Cameron Payne, Joffrey Lauvergne, and Anthony Morrow, the team has virtually it’s entire roster under contract for the 2017-18 campaign.

Indeed, Morrow, the end-of-the-bench sharpshooter, is the lone unrestricted free agent. Carter-Williams, Lauvergne, Nikola Mirotic, and Cristiano Felicio are all restricted free agents, and it’s tough to see a fit between any of those players and the Timberwolves.

Carter-Williams is a non-shooter who isn’t on the same planet as Ricky Rubio and Kris Dunn on defense, and can only dream of being as effective as Rubio in every other part of the game. He simply isn’t a fit with the Wolves.

Lauvergne is an effective big man with shooting range and enough rebounding chops to fit into a rotation somewhere, but shares some redundancies with both Gorgui Dieng and Nemanja Bjelica. It will be intriguing to see what teams think the soon-to-be-26-year-old is worth in restricted free agency.

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Mirotic is an effective stretch-four but is similar to Bjelica in many ways. He’s better (and younger), but doesn’t have quite the playmaking ability that Bjelly has flashed during stretches where he’s appeared fully comfortable with the NBA game. Additionally, Bjelica is a relative bargain from a contract standpoint compared to what Mirotic is likely to command. As nice as it would be to have Mirotic’s 35 percent career mark from long-range spotted up behind the arc (and remember, Thibodeau was Mirotic’s head coach during his rookie season), its hard to see him ending up in Minnesota this summer.

Felicio is a solid defensive center whose offensive game largely consists of being ultra-active on the offensive glass. It’s tough to make a case for a 25 year-old center to take the roster spot of veteran Cole Aldrich, especially after watching Jordan Hill not play a single meaningful minute from the end of Tom Thibodeau’s bench. Felicio won’t be an option for the Wolves.

Morrow is the lone unrestricted free agent for the Bulls. He’ll be 32 years old next season, but is a career 41.7 percent shooter from beyond the arc. Strangely, he’s only played bit roles on fringe playoff teams over the past five seasons despite always contributing when given consistent minutes.

Yes, he’s a limited player, but would be a great fit to play moderate minutes at the two-guard spot as Zach LaVine eases back into things in November and December. From there, he’s a great 10-15 minute guy off the bench who should be able to space the floor even better than Brandon Rush did for Minnesota this past season.

Rush did shoot 38.6 percent from beyond the arc for the Wolves this season but didn’t bring anything else to the table. Morrow should be able to shoot at a higher clip and should fit alongside Andrew Wiggins better than Rush did this past season.

Next: Timberwolves Free Agency: Grizzlies Edition

All things considered, it’s pretty unlikely that any players from Chicago’s 2016-17 roster will end up in a Timberwolves jersey come fall. Unless, of course, that long-rumored Jimmy Butler trade goes down…