Bulls Have An Obvious Decision to Make On Patrick Beverley’s Future With The Team

Patrick Beverley will be a free agent at the end of the season, but the Chicago Bulls may have already seen enough of the 34-year-old to know they want his leadership on the roster next season.

The Bulls signed Beverley for the remainder of the 2022-23 season on February 21. After Saturday night’s 113-99 win over the Miami Heat–a game Beverley scored 17 points on 6-for-12 shooting from the field and 5-for-10 marksmanship from three-point range–the Bulls are 7-4 since bringing the Chicago native back to his hometown.

Beverley’s arrival helped to halt a season-worst six game losing streak heading into the All-Star break last month, and has seemingly invigorated Zach LaVine.

Since Beverley’s arrival, LaVine is averaging 30.2 points per game, shooting 55% from the field and making 47% of his three-point attempts. If the Bulls are going to reach their potential this year and beyond, they will need LaVine to be their best player.

He has looked like that over the past month, which gives hope to a franchise dragged by a disappointing 33-37 record and the reality of a third knee surgery for Lonzo Ball looming.

CHGO’s Will Gottlieb offered a glimpse into the Bulls’ current rankings across the league in a few more statistical categories during the “Pat Bev era.”

Beverley is by no means a superstar.

He is averaging just 6.4 points, 3.8 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game this season. While he’s still one of the better on-ball defenders the Bulls have, his defense has even taken a slight step backward. Because he turns 35 in July, Beverley’s window for on-court effectiveness is shrinking.

However, the Bulls’ organization and fanbase should be recognizing the leadership and toughness Beverley has provided since he arrived. From definitively saying LaVine should take more shots late to holding Nikola Vucevic accountable for a failure to react defensively, Beverley has been the kind of vocal leader and tone-setter the Bulls have needed.

His presence takes pressure off LaVine and DeMar DeRozan in that area, and it has seemingly generated the best results of the season.

Barring an insane close to the regular season and a surprise performance in the postseason, the Bulls’ roster is need of massive changes. Ball could miss all of next season while he recovers from his latest surgery, and Chicago doesn’t seem to have a high ceiling as currently constructed.

The Bulls’ best course of action could be to ship off or let go every player on the roster besides LaVine, Ayo Dosunmu, Patrick Williams, Dalen Terry, Coby White and in light of what we’ve seen over the past 11 games, Beverley.

Dealing the still-potent DeRozan and attempting to find a sign-and-trade deal for Vooch could give the Bulls an opportunity to replenish the draft assets they depleted with previous high-risk moves that haven’t panned out.

The deal that brought Vucevic to the Bulls from Orlando in 2020 cost Chicago Wendell Carter Jr. (the kind of young defensive big the Bulls could really use on the roster currently) a 2021 1st round draft pick (which turned out to be Franz Wagner), and another protected 1st-round draft pick (top-4 protected in 2023).

That deal has been as crippling for the Bulls as the loss of Ball.

Without dealing DeRozan and hopefully signing and trading Vooch, the Bulls don’t have a realistic path into draft relevancy.

While many fans and analyst have called for a complete rebuild, there is a chance a softer restart could help to vault the Bulls toward advancement. That reset should include bringing Beverley back on a two-year deal to help stabilize the young core, and to set a tone for the locker room.

Beverley seems thrilled to be playing at home.

He also seems thrilled to be in a role with a team and in a city that values his leadership and approach. Beverley is the perfect veteran to help shape Dosunmu, Terry and Williams’ approach to the next stages of their careers. This is especially the case considering the sort of aggression that has been the hallmark of Beverley’s career is what Williams has sometimes lacked.

Williams is still just 21 years old, and he has shown some flashes since Beverley arrived. The latest example of this came during a key fourth-quarter stretch that saw the Heat attempting to battle back after trailing big at halftime.

Williams put together a string of buckets that stamped out the remaining fight from the Heat.

Beverley’s impact on this team seems undeniable.

Bulls management has to recognize this and the chemistry he has with his new teammates. Considering the uncertain future of Ball’s career, bringing Beverley back for two more years after the current season just seems like the smartest plan–even if it means offering him a two-year contract worth $18-$20 million to seal the deal.

Beverley’s value can’t be measured in his individual statistics, but it should be calculated in team wins and the maturation of the young guys around him.

If things continue on the current path for the remainder of the season, the Bulls will make the playoffs, but they will still need a plan for next season.

Beverley should be a part of those plans.