The Bulls had a first-hand look at Bradley last season, as he played one of his better games against them when he was with the Sixers, but the search for frontcourt depth continues into next week and Summer League as all eyes turn to Marko Simonovic.
The Bulls know Tony Bradley all too well.
It was a quick acquaintance, but one that obviously left in an impression last season, as the 6-foot-10 big man strolled into the United Center for a March 11 meeting, and walked out with a win after scoring 14 points, grabbing five rebounds and blocking three shots for the 76ers.
Now, he’ll join the Bulls.
The Sun-Times confirmed that Bradley and the Bulls have reached an agreement on a one-year minimum deal with a player option for a second season, giving the Bulls some much-needed rim protection off the bench.
Drafted 28th overall in the 2017 NBA Draft, Bradley spent his first three seasons with Utah, and then was traded to the Pistons, 76ers and eventually the Thunder throughout all of last season.
The Bulls, however, were hoping to land Bradley at the right time, coming off his best season despite the frequent changes of address he went through.
In 42 games last season, he finished averaging 7.1 points, 5.7 rebounds, and 0.7 blocks per game, while shooting 66.5 percent from the field.
The Bulls were slim up front in the rim protection department last season, and that was before Daniel Theis and Thad Young were each traded in the last week. The hope was Bradley could be a rotation player that changes that.
Even with his addition, however, there was still work to do in the frontcourt. As of Wednesday, the roster was at nine, not including second-round pick Ayo Dosunmu and 2020 second-round pick Marko Simonovic.
Bradley and Simonovic are penciled in as the primary frontcourt reserves as of right now, but there’s some mystery with how effective they could be, especially for Simonovic, who was a draft-and-stash last season.
The good news for the Bulls is they will start to at least get some clarity with the 6-11 Simonovic, with the team releasing the Summer League roster.
The 21-year-old will make his debut for the Bulls in Las Vegas on Monday, as they tip-off Summer League play against New Orleans.
Joining Simonovic on the roster are both Dosunmu and last year’s first-round pick Patrick Williams. It will be interesting to see how much Williams plays, however, since he went straight from a long rookie campaign to offseason workouts, and then joining the Team USA Select roster to help prepare Team USA for the Olympics.
from Chicago Sun-Times - All https://ift.tt/3jDVdTZ
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