1. How much defense, if any, can we expect?
Last season wasn’t particularly inspiring on defensefor the Bulls, which explains parts of the rebuild. However, the Bulls’ roster isn’t particularly built for stopping opposing scorers in their tracks.
All U Can Heat
Look at the formation of this team: offense, offense, offense. I’m not tremendously worried about Nikola Mirotic‘s ability to hit a shot, but can he defend? Zach LaVine gets to the basketball, but can he defend?
Robin Lopez is versatile, but it’s hard to imagine he’ll be effective in chasing an Anthony Davis or Kristpas Porzingis off the 3-point line.
Watching this team pretend like they could guard Davis and DeMarcus Cousins was comical. In some ways, the offense held off a lot the mess, especially considering the Bulls allowed 46 points in the first quarter (when the Pelicans ran with the starters).
While the offense didn’t show up against Dallas, you don’t let a team drop 118 points by accident. It’s not like Dirk Nowitzki or Dennis Smith, Jr. were out there torching the Bulls. It was everyone. No one scored over 20 points. 16 guys recorded a bucket. And, the Mavs shot 50 percent as a team.
There’s no one on this team that I’d trust to put a body on LeBron James, let alone even Jeff Teague. Fred Hoiberg isn’t known for any defensive prowess, so this is a Bulls team that better score the rock and hope for the best.
Otherwise, the prospect of the 2017-18 loss column just looks more and more lopsided.