Chicago Bulls vs. San Antonio Spurs: 3 takeaways from Home Opener Defeat

Chicago’s Guard Situation is Dire

Entering into this season, the Bulls organization knew that the guard rotation would be spotty at best. Even without the injuries to guards Dunn and Payne, Chicago’s backcourt situation is lackluster.

Jerian Grant and Justin Holiday picked up the starting spots last night, same as last game. Kay Felder, David Nwaba, and Denzel Valentine all got minutes off the bench.

Holiday once again took advantage of his apparent green light and launched nine shots in the first quarter, five of them from three. However, he finished the game shooting five of 18 with only three assists. Holiday’s habit of dribbling into three defenders and trying to finish, only to get his shot erased, continues.

Grant’s shooting was also mostly ineffective before garbage time. He dished out four turnovers along with five assists.

But what was perhaps most worrisome was the incapability of the bench guards to pick up any slack.

While Felder at times provided pesky perimeter defense, he consistently got tunnel vision on offense, and rarely looked to pass before bouncing off a defender. Valentine and Nwaba were mostly invisible the entire game on offense, although Nwaba did show some fight on defense.

Antonio Blakeney did not get a single minute.

One of the most infuriating aspects of Chicago’s guards was their consistent inability to get Lauri Markkanen the ball in motion. While Markkanen got plenty of solid looks from three, he rarely got a pass mid-cut that allowed him to put the ball on the floor with momentum.

Bulls can only hope that their guards will start to gel better as the season goes. That or pray that Dunn comes back from his injury and balls out from the get-go.