The Chicago Bulls played 4 games this week against overall solid competition. They experienced two losses & two wins—an outcome that isn’t too shabby. They did lose to the San Antonio Spurs, which should have been one for the win column. There’s a lot the Bulls need to improve on before they can be a good team in a stacked Eastern Conference. Let’s get to this week's segment.
THE GOOD:
Dragic & Drummond. I will sound crazy but those two are looking like Stockton & Malone out there. Their chemistry is phenomenal & the PnR looks near unstoppable plus the lob chemistry. It’s nice to have a skilled veteran point guard in Dragic & arguably one of the best rebounders of the decade in Drummond coming off the bench. Billy Donovan has found a good rotation & runs LaVine as the primary score & it has been working. Drummond, who can probably still start on most teams, is playing roughly 17 minutes per game while averaging nine points & ten rebounds—exceptional numbers. Dragic is also playing roughly 17 minutes while giving the Bulls almost eight points & four assists—solid backup numbers. If they can keep this up, the bench can be lethal & really help keep the Bulls in tight games when the starters need their rest. Hopefully the Drummond shoulder injury isn’t too bad because his presence was missed in the loss against the Sixers.
DeMar DeRozan. Not that he’s been playing lights out this week or anything; DeMar is just looking like his normal veteran self, getting to his spots & doing what needs to be done. I just wanted to acknowledge the fact that he became the 50th player to reach 20,000 career points—a massive feat. He got it against his old squad & coach, the Spurs & Greg Popovich. You can really tell how much of a professional he is & how well respected he is around the league because Coach Pop called a special timeout when Deebo hit the 20K mark & the jumbotron had a little recognition image as well. I personally have always been a fan of DeMar, on & off the court so it was awesome to see this accomplishment.
Shoutout JaVonte Green. That’s it, that’s the tweet.
THE BAD:
Injuries. Now injuries are a part of the game but to have Ayo & Drummond go down along with Zach missing games due to injury management, it’ll be tough to win games. Ayo is arguably the second-best defender on the team & his presence was missed against the Sixers lethal backcourt. Caruso is also dealing with a hamstring issue which is limiting his minutes. Hopefully the Bulls can figure out a way to stay healthy, otherwise this is going to be another long season filled with injuries.
Defense. Story of the Bulls every year, right? Look, they haven’t been playing atrocious defense, but it hasn’t really been good either; teams are somehow always scorching us from deep & easily getting to the rim. The Bulls have this terrible habit of fouling three-point shooters, something that drives Stacey King crazy. Not everyone needs to or can play tough defense but sometimes the lacking effort is what is super noticeable & frustrating. This is generally a bad look for Billy Donovan as well, who came into the organization as a defensive-minded coach. Man, do I miss Lonzo.
THE UGLY:
Slow starts. Outside of the Pacers game, the Bulls started off slow the other three games & had to play catchup the whole time—not the best way to win games. The Bulls played extremely well against the Celtics after being down by 19 to end up winning by 18; it was a very good win but shouldn’t have been that hard fought to begin with, slow starts are inexcusable. The slow starts are a product of the poor defense the Bulls play, allowing teams to just let it fly from deep. They let the Celtics start the game 8-for-9 from deep, the Spurs opened the game 5-for-6 from downtown & the 76ers shot 6-for-10 from downtown. The Bulls are allowing the most first quarter points in the NBA with 33.1 but are in the middle of the pack in scoring with 28.9. It doesn’t help that the Bulls have almost started every game with a different starting lineup due to injuries plus Zach, but it’s really no excuse to just let teams do whatever they want to start the game. I think that Billy Donovan needs to play around with the starting five, maybe start with JaVonte Green over Patrick Williams. Let’s see if any improvements are made this week or if I’ll be ranting about the same thing.
Closing/clutch time. The numbers are straight up astonishing, especially because we have the best fourth quarter scorer from last year on the squad. The Bulls in the “clutch” this season have an 0-3 record, are 0-for-7 from deep with four turnovers. They rank dead last in fourth quarter offense shooting 33.6% from the field overall & a disgusting 28.9% from deep with 33 total turnovers. Zach went 0-for-2 from the field against the 76ers, these are shots he needs to hit especially after sitting the previous game. Zach & DeMar need to figure out how to operate as the 1-2 in tight game situations—something we’ll probably see a lot this season. It is a small sample size with only seven games played but these deficiencies should be identified quickly & resolved as soon as possible.
WEEK 3 PREDICTIONS:
Bulls @ Nets- W
Hornets vs. Bulls- W
Bulls @ Celtics- L
Bulls @ Raptors- L
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