How quickly things can change.
On November 1st, the Chicago Bulls were 5-0, atop the Eastern Conference. It’s not even December 1st yet, and the Bulls are a game below .500 at 9-10 and have plummeted to 10th place. They’ve lost their lightning in a bottle and squandered all the goodwill they built up with their hot start.
To get in tune with where the fanbase sits, I took some thoughtful questions from our CHGO Discord. There were some great questions and deeper conversations, but I wanted to go a little deeper on a few of the topics, so I picked out four of the best questions for the mailbag below.
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Enjoy!
The hype train on Matas Buzelis got a little out of hand going into the season.
It makes sense. The Bulls are without many prospects who have a chance to become stars. He talked a big game at Summer League and at Media Day about wanting to win championships and earn the Most Improved Player award, a refreshing departure from the front office flaunting a 15-5 stretch during another 39-43 campaign and another Play-In loss to the Miami Heat. To top it off, Buzelis was fantastic during the preseason, where he averaged 17.6 points per game on 57.4 percent shooting.
Over the last few weeks, Buzelis hasn’t popped in the same way. His impact on the game has been lacking, his shooting has slipped and his defense has left a lot to be desired.
But I’m not worried. This is what I expected. It’s what Billy Donovan directly stated before the season opener.
He’s 21 years old and has shown flashes of shot making, ball handling, rim protection and athleticism that, at 6’10, are extremely rare. Progress is not linear, and there are absolutely areas of his game that Buzelis must improve upon. My expectations were not star leap, but instead meaningful growth and progress in key areas: defense, shooting, shot creation, rebounding. There are games where he hasn’t even shown that much, and while it’s disappointing to be sure, he has plenty of time and runway to keep getting better and more consistent.
Not only am I concerned about the same things Nikola Vucevic has been cautioning, but we’ve also already seen those concerns come back to bite the Bulls.
Vucevic sounded the alarm after a 121-120 win over the Washington Wizards, but those feelings had been brewing since the Bulls failed to throw away their game against the Portland Trail Blazers. Since then, the Bulls have been mauled by the New Orleans Pelicans (now 3-16), Charlotte Hornets (now 5-14) and Indiana Pacers (now 4-16). They’ve given up 120 or more points in 11 straight games, the first time any team has done so in 35 years.
We knew the defense was going to be bad this year, given the personnel (more on this below). They’re 23rd in the league through 19 games. If you’re going to be a poor defensive team, you had better be able to make up for it with elite offense, but the Bulls are 21st on that end, not nearly good enough to compensate.
Over the last 14 games, the Bulls are 21st in offense, 25th in defense and 24th in net rating at -7.5. I wasn’t totally bought into them playing at a 50-plus win pace, and I’m not totally bought into them playing like a 20-win team either. In all likelihood, the Bulls will have some cold streaks and some hot ones and finish somewhere in the middle like they always do.
There is this idea that defense is five individual one-on-one matchups all happening in a vacuum at the same time. Are my five defensive players better or worse than your five offensive players?
It’s not that simple.
Especially for a team like the Bulls.
There are some players with above-average defensive attributes on this team, but no world-class, versatile defenders who can be elite both on and off ball. Ayo Dosunmu, for example, is effective at the point of attack, fighting over screens and hounding ball handlers, but isn’t as tuned into his off-ball responsibilities. Same thing for Buzelis. He gets a fair share of blocks as a low man and even recovering on drives, but he’s got a ways to go as someone who can contain the ball. Isaac Okoro has been a nice fit, especially guarding down, using his physicality against opposing guards. He’s slightly undermatched against bigger forwards like Giannis Antetokounmpo, Paolo Banchero and Zion Williamson.
That would be fine if the Bulls had more defense overall, but as a group, they are frankly under-talented as a whole.
Everyone in the rotation gives above-average effort and seems pretty in tune with what rotations need to happen when and how they need to position themselves to provide support. But at the end of the day, offenses in the modern NBA are too good, and without multiple elite point of attack defenders or an elite rim protector, it’s going to be impossible to resemble anything close to a high-level defense.
Covering the team has felt different for me this season than in years past. Maybe it has something to do with this being my fourth season on the beat, and I feel like my relationships with the players and with Donovan have gotten a lot stronger. Among other things, that has helped me get a much clearer understanding of what the Bulls are trying to do.
I know people are frustrated with the results, and the easiest person to blame is the coach, but I’ve gained a lot of respect for Donovan this season. His ability to clearly communicate the team’s goals
I also feel that I’ve gained a greater appreciation for all that goes into what the Bulls are trying to accomplish. In years past, I spent many hours harping on the three-point discrepancy between the Bulls and their opponents, placing that in higher regard than any other statistical category. While it’s obviously important, I think there’s much more to it. I’ve come to more of an appreciation for the value of defensive rebounding, physicality at the point of attack, execution on defensive rotations, tempo getting into screens, rim pressure, not fouling and the ways that those things can help compensate for a poor shooting night or a hot shooting night from opponents.
As for the rest of the league, I enjoy watching homegrown teams like the Houston Rockets and the Oklahoma City Thunder, who have built, in my opinion, the right way. Lean into accumulating assets, hit on high draft picks, develop a defensive infrastructure and watch players like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, Jalen Williams, Amen Thompson and Alperen Sengun turn into stars.
While the younger teams that have already arrived are fun, I also get a lot of enjoyment out of watching the Golden State Warriors. Stephen Curry is the most exciting player I’ve seen in my lifetime watching basketball, and as Big Dave always says, it’s fun watching greatness.
