NBA Free Agency: 10 teams facing most pressure to succeed

1. Chicago Bulls

The Bulls were already under pressure this offseason. After dealing with some tough injuries and struggling all season with the new, more uptempo offense Fred Hoiberg tried to instil, they fell to the 9th seed in the Eastern Conference, failing to make the playoffs for the first time since 2008.

Then, this week, Joakim Noah entered the news as reports emerged that he’s told teammates he doesn’t trust the Bulls’ front office to get the team in the right direction. Essentially, providing the rumor materializes as being correct, the heart and soul of the team that is Noah (despite moving to the bench this season) is all but gone (via Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times):

"Noah has been telling teammates in recent weeks that he was done with the organization once free agency begins, and “has no trust in the front office getting this in the right direction,’’ according to a Bulls player… What was offered up, however, was the notion that there seems to be a complete mistrust multiple players have toward general manager Gar Forman, with Noah leading that charge."

Noah is just the start, though. Pau Gasol has also made it clear months ago that he’s likely going to opt out using his 2016-17 player option and test the market in free agency this summer, making the most of what will be his final chance to land a big deal and contribute for a top team.

As he recently expressed to Marca, he’s excited to see what teams pick up the phone and throw some money (and a far more promising situation) his way:

"I have to wait for offers. I try to keep an open mind about this. The good thing is this summer the offers can be very attractive and there’s going to be a lot of teams that can pitch interesting proposals."

If both Noah and Gasol leave, which now seems increasingly likely, the Bulls have already lost vital elements of their identity, their key interior defender and their offensive anchor outside of Jimmy Butler.

And this is where Butler’s future becomes a noteworthy topic as well. It’s already been rumored that the Bulls have considered to trade him for multiple assets in order to start afresh and reset this team that can’t contend.

Dealing Butler is probably still a step too far, but it seems inevitable that some major changes are coming for the Bulls whether they like it or not. The pressure is on them to come out the end of the summer as strong as possible.

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