What does the perfect (and realistic) 2019-20 season look like for the Chicago Bulls? A playoff spot? A playoff win? Let’s dive into it.
There’s no such thing as a “perfect” season in the NBA. No team has ever gone 98-0 (the would-be record of an undefeated regular season and playoff team). I’m guessing no team ever will. But how about a perfect realistic season? What would that look like?
The Toronto Raptors executed a perfect realistic season in 2018-19. After making the trade for Kawhi Leonard, it was clear they had championship aspirations. If you have a top-3 player in the world, then you have a chance to bring home the Larry O’Brien Trophy. The odds were still stacked against them, though. Having to go through Joel Embiid and Giannis Antetokounmpo in the East is no easy feat. Then, after successfully going through those guys, they had to take on a legendary team in the Finals? Sheesh.
Of course, the injury issues the Warriors were dealing with helped the Raptors out tremendously, but that’s neither here nor there. The Raptors played the team in front of them and beat them fair and square. The Raptors winning the 2019 NBA Championship was the ultimate ending to the perfect realistic season for them.
For the Chicago Bulls, the perfect realistic season will look a bit different in 2019-20 than it did for the Raptors in 2018-19.
Chicago has spent the last two seasons in a full rebuild. That means they’ve lost lots and lots of games – many in embarrassing fashion. During those two seasons, the playoffs weren’t all that realistic. But now, things are different.
The Bulls are finally back in a position where sneaking into the playoffs feels attainable. While that’s the ultimate goal for the upcoming season, the perfect realistic season is more complicated than just making the playoffs. It starts with individual player development.
Lauri Markkanen and Zach LaVine need to make the two biggest leaps in the 2019-20 season. They’re both young, exciting and on the verge of becoming stars.
For LaVine, it all starts on the defensive end of the floor. If he were to become even a slightly above-average defender, he’d surely be an All-Star. His offense is already elite – he just needs to turn into some sort of two-way player. At the bare minimum, he can’t be a liability on defense.
Markkanen, on the other hand, doesn’t have any huge holes in his game – he’s pretty solid all around. He turned 22 in late May, so age and experience are the only real things holding him back. Now that he’s entering his third year in the league, though, it’s time for him to start doing everything on a nightly basis. He needs to be a dude night in and night out.
A perfect realistic season will require more than just the development of LaVine and Markkanen, though.
Wendell Carter Jr. needs to show that he has what it takes to be the long-term starting center. Coby White needs to prove that he was the correct choice for the Bulls at no. 7 in this summer’s draft. Otto Porter Jr. needs to be valuable enough to justify his contract. The list goes on and on. Every role player needs to do their part.
Above all else, Jim Boylen needs to make it clear that he’s ready to be an NBA head coach. He has to be flexible, creative and level-headed. He can’t make the same bone-headed mistakes he made last season, and he can’t be stuck in the past.
If Boylen turns into a quality NBA coach, Markkanen and LaVine take big leaps in their respective games and the role players do their jobs, the Bulls will be in position to make a push for one of the lower seeds in the playoffs.
So that’s what the perfect realistic season would look like for the Bulls. Can they do it?