Chicago Bulls and Sky Q&A: Why are Bulls satisfied with making the play-in? Can Kamilla Cardoso make the jump?

Chicago Tribune

27-02-2025

It has been a month of upheaval for basketball in Chicago.
After trading Zach LaVine at the deadline, the Bulls are wading through the final murky weeks of the regular season as they prepare to take yet another crack at the play-in tournament. And the Sky's roster is almost set after making a major trade Sunday to acquire veteran guard Ariel Atkins for the No. 3 pick in the draft.
How will the next few months shape up for the Bulls and Sky? Here are the top questions from fans as the teams enter another pivotal part of their respective seasons.
Why are the Bulls satisfied with only making the play-in every year? — bigorican.bsky.social
Why do the Bulls keep winning against these bad teams!?!?! — David K.
I wanted to bundle these together because their answers are inextricably linked.
The reason the Bulls are beating bad teams is because they are, rather unfortunately, still better than those bad teams. The Eastern Conference is really, REALLY bad. And the Bulls still have enough weapons in their bag — between a streaky Coby White, a sensationally recovered Lonzo Ball and a quickly improving Matas Buzelis — to outplay teams such as the hobbled Philadelphia 76ers.
When we talk about tanking, we're not talking about the players. There is never a scenario in which players should — or, quite honestly, will — underexert to better the objectives of a corporate entity that might discard them at any point. This also applies to the inclination from Bulls fans to blame the lack of tanking on coach Billy Donovan.
That's not how this works. Coaches coach. Players play. Executives tank. So the Bulls' current position is the fault of executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas and the rest of the front office. Karnišovas did not commit to losing early enough this season.
At this point, there's nothing the team can do besides throwing games to tank hard and fast enough to drop fully out of play-in contention. If the Bulls actually wanted to finish in the bottom quadrant of the East this season, they needed to start last spring by trading away a higher volume of players at the 2024 deadline. That effort could have continued in October by boosting minutes for young players and strategically adjusting lineups against key opponents.
But Karnišovas wanted this team to look competitive. And that's essentially the rub of the last three seasons. The Bulls keep making the play-in tournament because that is the absolute ceiling of the roster assembled in 2021 — and Karnišovas refuses to do anything besides let his players compete to their ceiling.
The Bulls will pay for it — again — in the draft lottery. But hey, at least the team gets to finish out another season with a trip to Miami.
What would it take to see a change in the front office with the Bulls? Do fans need to stop going to games? — @A_SHsports on X
I'm not going to advocate for fans to boycott games — frankly, because I don't need to do so. The Bulls already dropped from first to third in attendance this season. The ticket price for Wednesday's game against the Los Angeles Clippers plunged to $10 on StubHub. The free market responds pretty harshly to a 23-35 record.
There is a historical precedent for fan upheaval leading to front-office action. NBA teams are still businesses first and foremost. And the Bulls are in a touchy position because of the massive drop-off in viewership caused by their move to CHSN, which reportedly has led to the loss of more than 60% of viewers.
Ownership clearly has been content with mediocrity when the United Center is packed with happy, paying fans. It will be interesting to see if changes occur when the crowds inevitably begin thinning out.
What are your thoughts on Kamilla and Angel's offseason development? Even though they haven't really played with other bigs a lot, what are you most excited to see translate from this offseason to their game with each other? — Lexi R.
This Sky's success this season will revolve around the development of Kamilla Cardoso and Angel Reese, a process that began in the offseason for the second-year duo.
Watching Cardoso play in China was a bit of a struggle — there aren't a ton of legal ways to watch those games, which means most fans mostly had to keep tabs on the center through highlight reels and reading box scores. It's clear that her ability to score and use her body around the rim continued to improve throughout this offseason, a crucial development for her second season in the WNBA.
Cardoso was a bit of a passive screener last season, which might have been a symptom of poor offensive scheming. I've noticed the same trend even in her best games with Shanghai. If the Sky can get her connecting heavily on more screens this season, they'll be able to unlock a higher level of her two-man game.
Reese has made noticeable progress in a few key areas with Unrivaled: passing in the open court, decision making with the ball in her hands and efficiency finishing at the rim. Most importantly, this offseason clearly elevated her ability to read the game on both ends of the court. No surprise here, but her defense has benefitted the most from this growth.
Once she gets back to the WNBA, Reese will need to smooth out a few habits from the Unrivaled season. Playing 3-on-3 makes sense for offseason reps, but it also hinders a player from anticipating help defense. Reese always has had a low shooting motion in the post and a high, loose dribbling motion when playing with her back to the basket. Neither trait has been much of an issue in Unrivaled due to the complete lack of weakside help, but she'll need to adjust back to the reality of playing through the cluttered paint in 5-on-5.
This summer, I'm most eager to see how new coach Tyler Marsh designs an offense that can play to both of their strengths. Last year, the Sky spent too much time trying to pair Reese and Cardoso as two literal bigs, forcing both of them into the low post and clogging up the paint in the process. Marsh needs to create more balance this season, a process that will likely require the most adaptation from Reese due to her flexibility to play the four.
Cardoso and Reese will have a lot of work to do learning to space off each other. If Marsh can create a system that utilizes both as passers — Reese from the elbows, Cardoso from the low block and middle of the paint — he should be able to open up the floor in a pretty unique way.
Has Josh Giddey shown enough for the Bulls to match whatever offer he gets? — Matt H.
If you haven't been watching recently, Giddey is on an absurd tear. He has scored 20 points or points in three consecutive games and has averaged a team-high 19.1 points and five assists over the last seven games. This has been an interesting surge for a player entering the final weeks of his rookie contract.
Giddey poses a strange conundrum for the Bulls. There are no signs that he is outplaying Lonzo Ball for the starting point guard role. His defensive activity certainly has improved, but it's still only mediocre. While his best assists will dazzle on a highlight reel, Giddey is just as prone to questionable decision making in the half court. He has a proclivity to take low-percentage floaters from the midrange and forces impossible passes into traffic.
The Bulls would be best advised to let Giddey hear out as many offers as possible in restricted free agency. His improvement over the last two months seems to be enough for the Bulls to match any qualifying offer and keep Giddey in Chicago. But teams around the league are all but guaranteed to value the guard lower than the Bulls front office.
This approach would help the Bulls avoid getting locked into an overinflated deal, such as the one they signed Patrick Williams to last year. If the Bulls offer Giddey outright rather than letting him test the market, they'll wind up in a similar position with an overpaid, underperforming player stuck on a too-long contract.
Will Allie Quigley announce her retirement so the Sky can truly honor her, and do you think the organization will retire her number? — M.E. J.
I've said before that I fear Quigley has pulled off the most stunning Irish exit in the history of professional basketball.
When her wife and longtime co-captain, Courtney Vandersloot, left the Sky after the 2022 season (she re-signed with the team this winter), Quigley did not retire. She also didn't sign with another WNBA team. Instead, Quigley has spent the last two seasons happily on the sidelines of her wife's games, sometimes traveling with the team and working out with Vandersloot in the New York Liberty training facilities.
The decision was on-brand for Quigley, who was never a fan of being in the spotlight. But it also has prevented the Sky from formally celebrating one of their most highly decorated stars, who still is not officially retired from the WNBA. Quigley has hinted that she might make an official announcement later this year. If that occurs, then the Sky are almost certain to immediately schedule a date to celebrate their former guard — and retire her jersey.