Hello readers, welcome back to another year of The Fade Away. After a surprisingly overwhelming number of people said to bring the blog back, I have decided to. However, this year I’ll be taking a different approach. I’ll be posting two blog posts weekly, one about the Bulls & one about the league: “The Good, The Bad & The Ugly” & “Around The NBA”.
Let’s start with The Bulls:
THE GOOD:
Deebo. Except for the Cleveland game on Saturday night, DeMar looks great; he’s picked up right where he left off. With Zach being out the first two games, he needed to step up. He’s been shooting the ball efficiently, looking surgical in the midrange & getting his free throw attempts. I fully expect him to keep this up even with Zach on the floor but especially more when Zach sits for his “injury management”.
The bench. If there was a section between good & bad, that’s where this truly belongs but this’ll do. Without a doubt the bench looks better than last year; adding Dragic & Drummond was very solid & of course you have the play of Caruso & Green. Defensively, they play well but scoring for the bench was an issue last year & may be an issue this year—unless White figures it out. I would like to see some more Derrick Jones Jr., especially with the way Williams is playing right now. All in all, the bench is deeper & better than last year.
THE BAD:
Patrick Williams. I was debating putting him in the next portion, but I feel like that would be too early. It’s only been three games into the season but to be frank, he hasn’t really looked any better. This is essentially his second season in the NBA & he’s only 21 but he’s still got to be more aggressive, especially when key players are out. Being a 6’7 forward & averaging only two rebounds in his first three games is straight up abysmal. I’m not sure if it’s a mental thing or a coaching thing, but for this team to be good, he’s got to be more aggressive. I do anticipate him being benched for Javonte Green as soon as tonight, but it might be good as he needs to learn from Javonte’s energy & assertiveness. Green is constantly cutting to the basket, hustling for boards & just playing with a lot of energy compared to Williams. The 2020 draft was a relatively weak one but with the emergence of Maxey & Haliburton, the Williams pick isn’t looking too hot. Let’s hope it can get figured out soon.
Defense & rim protection. This was an issue we had last year & knew going into this year but doesn’t seem like it was addressed. Adding Drummond was an underrated move in my opinion but it was not the answer. The defensive rotations look atrocious & at times there just seems to be no effort. The Bulls clearly miss Lonzo, who can guard practically any position, but they have to show more effort & heart on defense. We don’t really have any shot blockers on the team so it’s not surprising that the rim protection has also been disappointing; I do think that if the rotations were a little crispier, then this wouldn’t be as much of a hole in the game as it is.
THE UGLY:
Zach LaVine. Now I'm not talking about his play but his knee issue. He looked solid in season debut, so I understand the confusion. The Chicago Bulls are being strangely vague about his injury & management; it wasn’t expected for him to miss the beginning of the season but somehow, he did. Zach has said there’s no issues while Donovan has said that he felt slight discomfort—who to trust? There should be more transparency when it comes to your max contract player for both fans & stakeholders. Seems like he’ll miss some back-to-backs, which will for sure negatively impact the Bulls record this year. Let’s just hope it is just management & not a real issue.
WEEK 2 PREDICTIONS:
Celtics vs. Bulls- L
Pacers vs. Bulls- W
Bulls @ Spurs- L
Sixers vs. Bulls- W
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