Throughout recent memory, the Chicago Bulls have been defined by two main themes: mediocrity and wasted potential.

These factors go so hand-in-hand with one another that it has seemingly become the franchise’s entire identity, overshadowing everything else.

Bulls have created a cycle of wasted potential

It’s a pattern Bulls fans know all too well. The team drafts a promising young player, flashes of talent are shown throughout the first few seasons, development stalls while confidence fades, and the team stays stuck in the middle of the standings. Blame is then placed between the player and the front office, and eventually, the player leaves, often to thrive in a different uniform.

It would be far too easy to call it bad draft luck, and sure, you can cut the front office some slack for a missed pick here and there. But every team whiffs on draft picks every once in a while. This problem runs even deeper. Time and time again, Chicago drafts talent only for it to plateau and underperform for as long as the word “Bulls” is stitched across their chest.

The reason is clear. The Chicago Bulls do not invest nearly enough time and money into their player development system or their young core.

Teams like the San Antonio Spurs, Miami Heat, Toronto Raptors, and Memphis Grizzlies have built their reputations on maximizing talent, turning raw prospects and second-round draft picks into reliable role players, and sometimes even stars.

Chicago, on the other hand, lets veterans carry the load while young players sit in the corner, almost as if they are a decoy rather than the future of the team.

Complacency as a strategy?

The issue within the front office comes in reaction to poor development. Year after year, the Bulls run the same formula while expecting different results. In some organizations, that might look like stability. But in Chicago, it looks like complacency. The message ownership is sending to the fans seems to be “We’re okay being average.”

The low point of this approach came just two days into the 2025 NBA offseason, following the Play-In Tournament loss to the Heat, when the Bulls fired their head of player development and one of the most respected shooting coaches in the NBA, Peter Patton.

Yes, the team notoriously known for being unable to develop young talent, fired the very person in charge of fixing that problem. If that doesn’t scream incompetence, what does?

The Bulls can draft well… for other teams

The evidence of poor development is everywhere. Lauri Markkanen left Chicago after four seasons and became an All-Star just two years later. Wendell Carter Jr. went to Orlando and boosted his production and efficiency across nearly every major statistical category.

Daniel Gafford doubled his averages in points, rebounds, and assists immediately after leaving. Bobby Portis was traded halfway through his fourth season, improved in every major statistic, won a championship in his first season with Milwaukee, and finished top-three in Sixth Man of the Year voting twice in the past three seasons. The list can go on and on.

It works the other way, too. Players who succeed elsewhere often underperform in Chicago, unable to reach their normal standards within the Bulls’ system.

What can possibly be done?

The Bulls don’t suffer from a lack of talent. They suffer from not being able to maximize the talent they already have on their roster. For any franchise, that’s a serious problem. But for a team whose past three seasons have ended via Play-In Tournament loss, it’s even more dangerous.

If the Bulls want to avoid another decade of wasted talent, they can’t just draft and trade for the right players. They need to show more effort towards investing in their young prospects and the development team behind them to turn potential into production.

Until they do, the Chicago Bulls will continue to be defined by mediocrity.