Center hasn’t been an easy position to fill since the old Bulls front office pushed out Joakim Noah and Pau Gasol years ago.
This past season alone, the list of candidates were many. Wendell Carter Jr. — under-sized for the spot — earned the starting nod, but his injuries and inconsistency led to Daniel Gafford, Lauri Markkanen, Thad Young and Luke Kornet getting auditions.
The position was unstable enough that Arturas Karnisovas, in his first year as the team’s executive vice president of basketball operations, said enough and began shopping for a big-time talent at that spot.