NBA Season Preview 2018-19: Every team’s biggest question

Chicago Bulls: How do they sort out the frontcourt?

Given the Bulls’ massive chunk of cap space and current standing in the Eastern Conference, spending $20 million for a year of Jabari Parker – with a team option for a second year at the same price – wasn’t the worst thing Chicago could have done this summer. Parker has talent, even if his career in Milwaukee went unspectacularly, and his contract doesn’t compromise the Bulls’ future. As for the present, however, it may be a challenge fitting so many similarly-shaped pieces together.

After two ACL surgeries and one significant shift in how NBA basketball is played, Parker’s best position is clearly power forward. Yet with Lauri Markkanen already in place and Wendell Carter joining the Bulls’ ranks, Parker’s fit in Chicago will be complicated, and offers reason to question his long-term future there. One of Parker or Markkanen will have to consistently defend on the perimeter, a task for which both are ill-suited. Parker once had the quickness to stay with wings off the bounce, but with reduced athleticism and a habit of getting lost on defense, that order becomes taller. Markkanen has shown potential as a switchable big man, but asking him to play that role on a full-time basis will end poorly.

Offensively, those two should make for a cleaner fit. Markkanen could be an elite shooter, and Parker is streaky from distance. Even Wendell Carter, one of the most complete big men in the 2018 draft, can stretch out beyond the arc. Most teams would have the option of simply staggering Parker and Markkanen to reduce overlap, but the Chicago is overflowing with forwards and centers. Barring injury, Fred Hoiberg will be forced into playing multiple bigs together at virtually all times. Even Markkanen merits some time at center, but Robin Lopez, Bobby Portis and (maybe) Cristiano Felicio must fit in somewhere.