The Bulls hand Josh Giddey a new cast and Norman Powell's scoring

The Chicago Bulls spent the summer changing almost everything except the player in the middle of it. Josh Giddey still runs the show. Around him, Nikola Vucevic, Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu are gone, and Norman Powell and Nicolas Claxton are in. The question for 2026-27 is simple: is this roster better than the one that went 31-51, or just different?

Last season was the kind that gets nobody fired and excites nobody either. Chicago finished 12th in the East, outside even the play-in, and was outscored by five points per 100 possessions. A bad team, not a hopeless one, and the front office decided it was not worth keeping together.

What walked out the door

The departures explain why our model is cautious. Vucevic, now back with the Orlando Magic, played 48 games at 30.9 minutes and graded above average (0.7). White was better still before he left for the Charlotte Hornets, a 1.21 in 29 games, and Dosunmu, now with the Minnesota Timberwolves, gave Chicago a solid 26.2 minutes a night over 45 games (0.4). Those were three positive players, and together they took a big share of last season's minutes with them.

Anfernee Simons, now with the Philadelphia 76ers, and Jaden Ivey came and went after a handful of games. Add it up and only 55% of last season's minutes return. That is a real reshuffle, not a tweak, and reshuffled teams tend to need time before the parts fit.

Giddey's team now

Giddey put up 17 points, 8.3 rebounds and 9.1 assists a night over 54 games, and our impact rating had him comfortably above average at 1.04. With White gone, even more of the offense runs through him. Tre Jones is the steady second option: 14.1 points and 5.4 assists, and an even better rating, 1.42.

Powell is the reason for optimism. He scored 21.7 points a night for Miami in 29.6 minutes, more than anyone on this roster managed last season, and his rating (0.8) says the points helped his team rather than just filling the box score. A scorer who finishes what Giddey starts is exactly what the last version of this team was missing, and the fit is easy to picture: Giddey's 9.1 assists a night need someone at the end of them.

The bright spot on the bench

The best number on the roster belongs to a backup. Jalen Smith played only 20.6 minutes a night, but his rating of 2.89 was the highest in this core, built on 10.2 points and 6.7 rebounds. How many more minutes he can handle is one of Chicago's most interesting questions.

It matters more than usual, because Vucevic's minutes at center have to go somewhere. The candidates are Smith, Claxton and, once healthy, Zach Collins, who is listed as questionable on the injury report. If Smith turns out to be the answer, the Bulls get better on paper the moment the rotation is set.

The worries

The other newcomers arrive with warning signs. Claxton gave Brooklyn 11.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.7 assists but graded below average at -1.33, and Buddy Hield's 7.6 points in 16.1 minutes for Golden State came with a -0.86. Orlando Robinson and Drew Peterson barely played.

Two returning regulars pulled the numbers down, too: Isaac Okoro (-2.06 in 26.9 minutes) and Patrick Williams (-4.23 in 20.5). Both played real minutes last season, and both graded well below average, so how much the new arrivals squeeze them out of the rotation may matter as much as how well the newcomers play.

Then there is Matas Buzelis, the player most likely to change the math. He was the most durable Bull, with 77 games, and the second-biggest scorer, at 16.3 points and 5.8 rebounds in 29.2 minutes, yet his rating sat right at average (-0.14). With Powell taking some of the scoring load, his role should get clearer, and he is the one player on this roster who could outgrow last season's numbers on his own.

Three rookies, Caleb Wilson, Dailyn Swain and Tobe Awaka, and Brandon Boston Jr., back after a season away (10.7 points in 2024-25), fill out the depth.

Bottom line

Our roster model ranks Chicago 27th of 30 and projects about 30 wins, close to where it finished. That is a judgment on paper, built from last season. If Smith's minutes grow and Powell's scoring travels, the Bulls can beat it. If Claxton and Hield play like their numbers, they will not.

The first look comes on Wednesday, October 21, at 7:30 PM ET, in Toronto against the Raptors.