For the Chicago Bulls, it has been a decade of sorrow and mediocrity. The once-proud franchise has left a trail of disheartening statistics in its wake.
With the Chicago Bulls suffering their 21st loss of the season, a 123-102 drubbing at the hands of the Milwaukee Bucks, it is understandable that some fans have become numb to the disappointment. It hasn’t always been this way. The Bulls had the league on lock in the mid-to-late ‘90s. It’s common to hear hyperbole of eight-straight titles had Michael Jordan not retired.
The time since has been filled with some hope, sure. But for the most part, it has been one letdown after another. Some have been beyond team control, while others, some might argue, they had a direct hand in.
Needless to say, the Bulls have left a legacy of shortcomings over the past decade. Chronicling it all would take ages and could be subjective.
But some stats highlight just how bad the Bulls have been from the 2010-118 season to the present day. This is typically an exercise in the micro, but for the end of the year and decade, we look at the macro.
400
No, this isn’t a follow-up to the popular movie, 300. Instead, it is the number of wins the Bulls finished the decade with. Largely bolstered by strong teams built around Derrick Rose, the Bulls maxed out by reaching the Eastern Conference Finals to start the decade. The saw a slight resurgence after being reconfigured around Jimmy Butler but those teams were first-round outs.
Chicago ultimately ended the decade with the 13th-most wins of any team. It’s a humble step back from their dominant days in the ’90s. The teams of the early-to-mid 2000s ranged from bad to likable and fun. But none ever reached the heights of a true contender. It is important to remember the lockout of 2011 shortened that season by 16 games and this one is still ongoing.
4/28/12
It wasn’t until the Bulls landed the first-overall pick in the 2008 NBA Draft that real hope returned to the United Center. The Elton Brand-led teams gave way to the Tyson Chandler–Eddy Curry Twin Towers experiment just to end up as the Ben Gordon–Kirk Hinrich Baby Bulls. None of them came close to the hype that surrounded the teams led by Derrick Rose.
A team that lifted a city’s morale the way Rose’s Bulls did would bring them to such depths when the prodigal son went down. It was a playoff game the Bulls led by 12 over the Philadelphia 76ers. There were less than 90 seconds left on the clock. But just like that, the NBA’s youngest MVP had his, the Bulls, and the entire city of Chicago’s paths were altered for years.
-1.89
That is the Bulls average offensive rating relative to the NBA. They currently sit at a -4.5 relative offensive rating and that is their best number in the past two-plus years. They have been equally and oppositely strong defensively with their relative rating being above league average three times as well. All three occurred under Fred Hoiberg.
It isn’t a secret that the Bulls have largely struggled on the offensive end this season. They rank 25th in points per game and 30th in field goal percentage. Their somewhat saving grace has been their ranking 15th in three-point percentage, though it hasn’t resulted in many wins. It’s a long-running issue and the Bulls came in 26th and 27th in points per game in 2016 and 2017, respectively.
0.3
This is a bonus number because it is tied to the one above. But the Bulls are clinging to their first positive relative pace rating since the end of the last decade. The last time was the 2009-10 season when the Bulls were headed by Vinny Del Negro. There aren’t many who would view Del Negro as an offensive genius anyway, but this just highlights how behind the times the Bulls are.
John Paxson and Jim Boylen can tout the Bulls leading the NBA in steals and being fourth in opponent three-point percentage until the cows come home. If they don’t catch up offensively, they will tread water at best. The selection of Coby White has, at least, spurred them to pick up the pace slightly compared to years past. But they still have a ways to go in the modern NBA.
Bulls 2020 Vision
This is just a glance at some of the more-telling numbers (and dates) from the Bulls over the past decade. There are many more but as bleak as the last nine-plus seasons have been, the organization is likely just as anxious as the fanbase to usher in a new decade with more positive than negative.
Making good on their goal of reaching the playoffs would be a good start. But even that better just be a start.