Before the Bulls even get to the first orange ball of the 2026-27 preseason, there’s already a useful test for the new regime waiting in plain sight: how Chicago evaluates young talent.
That matters because Bryson Graham is stepping into a front office that leaves behind a mixed but very specific track record. The cleanest success stories he inherits are forward Matas Buzelis and guard Josh Giddey. But the larger picture under Arturas Karnisovas is far less flattering, especially when it comes to players acquired while under 25.
The recent move of guard Rob Dillingham out of Chicago for guard Buddy Hield sharpened that debate. Some Bulls fans welcomed the deal because of Hield’s reputation as a three-point shooter.
Others saw it as the team bailing on Dillingham’s upside too early. That argument, though, runs straight into a harsher truth: most of Karnisovas’ young acquisitions were never loaded with much upside in the first place.
Patrick Williams is part of that conversation, of course. His draft selection, along with the reality of his five-year, $90 million rookie extension, has already been dissected plenty. But Williams wasn’t the only example of a front office chasing projection without a strong enough plan to turn it into actual player growth.
There was also Troy Brown Jr., acquired during the 2020-21 season in a three-team trade with the Boston Celtics and Washington Wizards. In that deal, the Bulls gave up Daniel Gafford, a player who had real upside.
Then came the younger wings who looked the part more than they played it: Dalen Terry and Julian Phillips. Even the supposed stash-style bets like Marko Simonovic and Onuralp Bitim never really moved beyond the idea stage.
That’s the blunt lesson here. Sometimes the league just hands you bad young players, and Karnisovas seemed unusually good at finding them. For Graham, the assignment is straightforward, even if the execution won’t be: evaluate NBA talent better than his predecessor did.
And the upside that actually matters tends to reveal itself quickly, usually within the first two or three seasons. That’s the lane Matas Buzelis, Ayo Dosunmu, and hopefully Caleb Wilson have already started to occupy.
In Other News...
Bulls Camp Is Already Changing How Fans Should See These Two Youngsters
The Bulls have wrapped up their first week of training camp, and the early returns have given the team a little more to work with when it comes to two young players trying to carve out roles. Head coach Tiago Splitter has pointed to noticeable growth across the roster, but second-year forward Noa Essengue has stood out for the kind of progress that can change how a prospect is viewed before the season even begins.
Essengues camp showing has looked different from his Summer League run, while Dailyn Swain is working through a bigger adjustment of his own as he settles into a lead-guard, distributor role. It is a meaningful shift for Swain after being used more as an ISO scorer at Texas, and the early stretch of camp suggests the Bulls are still sorting out just how quickly he can translate that change into real backcourt value. [Read more 🡒]
Bulls Young Core Already Faces A Big Tiago Splitter Test
The Bulls are asking a young roster to grow up with some help from a veteran who has seen just about everything the league can throw at a player. Norman Powell brings 11 NBA seasons and a recent All-Star appearance to a group that is still sorting out its identity, and he has already signaled that he wants to be more than just a name in the locker room. For a team trying to build something sturdier around its younger pieces, that kind of voice matters.
Under Tiago Splitters new staff, the early message has been less about flash and more about structure, with Matas Buzelis and Noa Essengue among the players adjusting to new roles and different expectations. Powells presence should help smooth that transition, but it also puts a spotlight on how quickly Chicagos young core can absorb those lessons and turn them into real on-court progress. [Read more 🡒]
Bulls Have Better Uses For Pelicans Ties Than This Reunion
Bryson Grahams ties to New Orleans have already shown up once for the Bulls, with the Chicago executive helping bring in veteran shooter Buddy Hield, a player the Pelicans originally drafted. So when another former Pelicans connection surfaced this week, it was natural to wonder whether Chicago might have another angle to explore through that familiar pipeline.
Memphis waived Jordan Hawkins, the ex-Pelicans first-round pick, but the fit in Chicago does not appear likely. Hawkins was a prolific college shooter at UConn, yet he has not carried that success into the NBA, and the Bulls are looking for more immediate help than another reclamation project. For now, the more relevant takeaway is that Grahams New Orleans background can still be useful, just probably not in this particular case. [Read more 🡒]