Morrow: Average Bulls era about to go bad

The Chicago Bulls are in rebuild mode.

That feels weird to type. Through all the dysfunction and poor management, the Bulls franchise has always had a sense of wonderment, an aura of mystique and power. The Bulls are mismanaged and largely a laughingstock, but they don't feel like the Nets. They don't feel like the Kings. It's the team that hosted Michael Jordan, and all of his glory and achievements! The Bulls will forever be cemented in history as a truly important franchise.

Today's Bulls fans are used to dysfunction and chaos. They've become accustomed to halfheartedly cheering on an average team. Average. That word has defined the Bulls for the past two seasons, in the post-Derrick-Rose-being-good Era. Average is the worst thing to be in the NBA. You want to either be competing for a championship or Process-ing your way to the assembly of a young core.

Jimmy Butler was preventing the Bulls from being bad. He was too good to let them be a lottery team. And since being bad is good (relative to being average) Butler was holding the Bulls back. Holding them back from tanking. Ever since Rose and Joakim Noah suddenly went from elite to subpar, and it became apparent that the Bulls' front office was incapable of successfully providing Butler with any support, the Bulls' need for a rebuild has been clear.

Now, that rebuild has begun. Finally. Butler is gone. Off to the West, where he'll be surrounded with better talent, and more of it (both on his team and off it).

The Bulls' decision to rebuild was spot-on, and the only way to do that was to trade Butler. The execution was... questionable. This was the sort of move that Chicago was supposed to make last summer, when 1) Kris Dunn hadn't yet had his disappointing rookie season and 2) Zach LaVine hadn't torn his ACL. Because the Bulls waited, things have changed. Dunn is now considered a significantly less valuable commodity, and Chicago lost a year of potential rebuilding.

There's no use dwelling on the past, though. The situation is what it is. Regardless of previous missed opportunities, rebuilding is the correct route for the Bulls right now. It's not going to be pretty, though.

The Bulls are going to be bad next season. Not bad like, go .500, sneak into the playoffs as an eighth seed and nearly knock off the top-seeded Celtics. Bad like, bottom-two team in the conference.

LaVine is a legitimate asset, and is now the most important piece that the Bulls have. He's fast, absurdly athletic, and has a truly silky stroke from outside. Prior to tearing his ACL, LaVine was enjoying a great 2016-17 campaign, averaging 18.9 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3 assists per game on .459/.387/.836 shooting.

Dunn was not good in his rookie season, which isn't what you want from a 22-year-old rookie. Dunn showed little promise offensively (3.8 points per game on 37.7 percent shooting), though he was a legitimately great defender when he played. He's now 23, so he doesn't quite get the "well, he's young" pass. He's not old, though, obviously. He does still have time to work on his offensive game. He was a tantalizing enough college prospect to be considered a top-3 pick (though he ended up going fifth). Kris Dunn still has promise. It's way too early to give up on him.

Lauri Markkanen is a bit more of a mystery, since we haven't seen him in NBA action. Here's what we know: His less-than-elite length and athleticism limit his likelihood to be a star. However, he was a great shooter in college (42.3 percent on 5.7 three-point attempts per game), and he's a crafty player with excellent passing vision. Markkanen could end up being a valued part of the Bulls' core.

The Bulls have a few other young guys who they're hoping end up being good:

• Denzel Valentine: Could be quite good; he can pass and shoot, and has good size for a guard, though his lack of explosiveness hurts.
• Cameron Payne: Feels like the world has given up on him very quickly, and perhaps prematurely. There's a reason he was drafted in the lottery two years ago (I'm not saying he'll be good, but I'm not not saying he'll be good either).
• Bobby Portis: Can be a serviceable starter, especially if he continues working on his outside shot.

The Bulls have some young players with potential, and if they're lucky, a few of those players (or players selected in future drafts), will be good enough to build around.

These players are not going to help them win now, though. Dunn should get more of an opportunity in Chicago than he did in Minnesota, but he's inexperienced and is nowhere near ready to be handed the reins to an NBA offense. LaVine is coming off of a torn ACL, and even if he comes back with no issues, he doesn't move the needle for a team. Markkanen has yet to play an NBA game. Dwyane Wade is 35 years old, and I don't think he or the Bulls like one another. Rajon Rondo isn't going to put in an ounce of effort for a rebuilding team, and is a buyout candidate.

The Bulls could very well be the worst team in the NBA next season. In fact, I'd go so far as to say they probably will be. Even the Nets and Suns have more win-now talent. This is going to be hell for Bulls fans. This team is going to be really, really bad, and this rebuild is unlikely to be a quick one. Fans are going to have to watch a lot of losing.

If all goes well, this Bulls rebuild (however long it takes) will be much more successful than the last one; the big man duo of Tyson Chandler and Eddy Curry was supposed to be Chicago's future... how'd that one work out?

So here's what younger Bulls fans who didn't suffer through the post-Jordan era are going to learn very quickly: Rebuilding, while the prudent move, is no picnic. At least, not a good picnic. It's a picnic where you take out your basket of food and there are somehow like, thousands of ants, all over everything. And you have to kill all of them (or at least get them off your basket) and that's a long and gross process. And it's hard, and it takes forever, and maybe at times you'll want to give up, and abandon your basket in favor of a newer, better ant-free basket. But you'll resist the urge to be a bandwagon basket-owner. Because that disgusting, ant-covered basket is still your basket. And when it's all over, and all the ants are finally gone, things will be back to normal for you. And that's where Bulls fans are at right now; they have to kill their ants.