Cleaning House

By my count, there are only two players left on the Bulls who place back to the regime of John Paxson and Gar Forman, which ended not so long ago, April 2020, to be exact. The two survivors are Zach LaVine and Coby White. LaVine, who scored 22 points in last night’s 111-108 win over the Raptors, is on the verge of free agency and due a big payday. Odds are he gets it with the Bulls, though you never know. White id different—he’s gone as soon as he generates some offense to peddle following an offseason shoulder injury. The roster overhaul has been nothing short of breathtaking and leaves me wondering: Is it like this in other sports? Does a hard salary cap play a sizable role? My gut feeling is, Yes, a hard cap matters. That always seems to contribute to roster churn regardless a team’s record; losing merely accelerates the process. But don’t hold me to that. In any case, the Bulls’ record stands at a gaudy 4-0, representing their best start to a season since the time of Jordan in 1996-97. Can they sustain it? I doubt it, but don’t hold me to that.