Chicago Bulls: Comparing this team to our last playoff team
By Keith Cork
The Chicago Bulls last made the playoffs in the 2016-2017 season with a record of 41-41. How does that team stack up against this one?
In the NBA offseason of 2016, the Chicago Bulls made an extremely questionable move in signing Dwyane Wade for what amounted to essentially a one-year rental. They went on to a .500 record at 41-41 and a playoff berth which saw them lose in 6 games to the Celtics.
Arguably, the Bulls could have advanced past the first round had not Rajon Rondo, who was averaging 10 assists, 11.5 points, and 8.5 rebounds per game in that playoff series, broke his hand in game 2.
In a vacuum, it wasn’t a bad team. What made the move, and the entire season itself, questionable is the fact that the signing came among a rather tumultuous time in Bulls franchise history. Coming on the heels of a series of Derrick Rose knee injuries that derailed a young MVP, and the entire grand scheme of the Bulls, most teams would have jammed the “hard reset” button on the franchise and offloaded as many assets for young talent and draft picks as possible, but not GarPax.
In true Bulls fashion, the rebuild should have started in that offseason, but it did not occur until the following offseason when the Bulls traded Jimmy Butler in a 2017 draft day trade for the aforementioned assets they should have been after for over a year.
But maybe the Bulls thought they could steal a season with the old talent they signed on short-term deals.
Either way, at this point in the 2019-20 season, with the Bulls sitting at 13th in the East with a 10-18 record, I found myself second guessing the unbridled optimism Bulls Nation felt heading into this season, and wondered which team I would truly rather have if I were trying to actually get into the playoffs.
What follows is a position by position analysis of the 2016-17 Bulls against the 2019-20 Bulls based on four factors, with a final slide to determine which team would win head to head as well as the best team we could construct out of both Bulls renditions for fun!
Quick note: These stats were taken before the win against the Clippers.