5 defensive stoppers the Chicago Bulls wish they still had

The New York Knicks were one of the worst losses for the Chicago Bulls so far this season, and two former forwards from this team were a large reason why. At the time, the Bulls gave the Knicks their first win of the season that lasted for around one week. The Knicks just aren’t very good under head coach David Fizdale so far this season.

Yet, two positives for the Knicks so far were two former Bulls that are manning the frontcourt, between Bobby Portis and veteran Taj Gibson. The Knicks handed a nice payday to Portis during the summer, and Gibson was signed to a manageable but still expensive deal. But Gibson is much more defensively capable as a veteran voice and at manning the paint than Portis.

The best years of Gibson defensively came during his long stint with the Bulls throughout the mid-2000’s, all the way up to the mid 2010’s. His career defensive box plus/minus during his stint in a Bulls uniform (for the better part of eight seasons) was 1.7. Of his 26.5 career defensive win shares, 22.5 of them came with the Bulls too.

Given the Bulls defensive struggles so far this season, and the lack of a veteran presence in the frontcourt, having Gibson in the mix wouldn’t be the worst thing imaginable. His production on defense with the Timberwolves and the Knicks was more just middling than anything else. That was partly due to the lack of talent surrounding him in those two spots on defense.