The 2021 Chicago Bulls are markedly better than the versions of the last few seasons. Sure, they sit at just 16-18 but they’re ninth in the East, firmly in the mix for the play-in game for the final playoff spot. But there are some bad habits that are proving hard to move on from. If the Bulls don’t fix these issues all the progress they’ve made this season will be for naught.
If a playoff berth is indeed the goal, that is. Recent comments from Arturas Karnisovas could be perceived as the Bulls will look to capitalize on what the Bulls Vice President termed as a “seller’s market”.
Still, these habits are proven killers to team success and the development of players like Coby White and Patrick Williams.
Billy Donovan has proven to be a massive upgrade over Jim Boylen. But even he has struggled to break the Bulls of these things, many of which they developed under his predecessor. Turnovers, fouls, and late-game execution have hurt the Bulls at times this season. It almost happened against the New Orleans Pelicans on Wednesday.
How do the Bulls stack up to the rest of the league in these problem areas? More importantly, what can they do to fix them?
Chicago Bulls numbers that count for 2021
1) 16.0
That is the number of turnovers per game the Bulls are currently averaging. That’s good for 29th in the Association. There are only 30 teams. What’s worse is it’s White and Zach LaVine who have the butterfingers. It’s an issue that has even been mentioned by Donovan as something that is holding this team back from reaching its full potential.
Donovan had this to say after the Bulls 106-97 loss to the Phoenix Suns,
"‘‘You know when you’re playing against a good team and certainly a point guard like Chris Paul, who is just not going to turn the ball over, those things just come back and bite you. I think we had done a pretty good job most of the game taking care of the ball, but that fourth quarter, the number of turnovers, I think it was [10] we had just in the fourth quarter alone.”"
The Bulls have lost the turnover battle in 20 games this season. They are 9-11 in those games. An emergency, indeed.
But there is good news. The Bulls have been cutting their turnovers down, month-to-month, as the season has gone on. They’ve gone from 17.6 per contest over the first five games to 16.8 in January and 13.5 in February. They had 12 in two March games before the break. This is a trend worth mentioning if we’re going to beat them up over the giveaways.
2) 50.1
The Bulls have been getting pulverized in the paint. Their 50.1 PITP per game is fourth-worst in the NBA. Of the three teams that rank behind them, only the Brooklyn Nets are currently a playoff team. Brooklyn, however, also has the top-ranked offense in the NBA led by two MVPs in Kevin Durant and James Harden plus champion and seven-time All-Star Kyrie Irving.
The Bulls…don’t have that.
Chicago is sixth in points per game; a huge improvement over where they stood a year ago. But the gap between the offenses is about six points per game. Defensively it’s right around a point.
Undoubtedly, some will want to point out that Wendell Carter, the Bulls best interior defender, missed 14 games. Well, the Bulls ranked 16th in PITP allowing 46.1 points per game inside prior to Carter’s absence. That number rose while he was out, getting to 49.8 and leaving the Bulls 22nd in the league.
But since Carter’s return, Chicago ranks 30th while giving up 56.4 points in the paint per game.
Now, some of that is due to who they played and when. But it’s bad enough that they are trending downward in this aspect. They don’t need their “best defender” having little, no, or even a negative impact.
We talked about the Bulls bigs being a problem area and the numbers show not much has changed. Carter is still a net-negative as the only number where the Bulls are better with him on the floor is in opponents assist percentage and that margin is less than a point. We don’t have to be boxscore watchers either; we have seen Carter have issues with every big worth his salt.
3) 48.6
Since we don’t want to just highlight the negative in what has been a pleasantly surprising season, this is what the Bulls are currently shooting. That number is good for third in the NBA; the first time they’ve ranked that high (or even inside the top-10 since the 1996-97 season. They might not finish that high but it’s a nice turnaround nonetheless.
Chicago has been a cellar-dweller offensively for some time. The last time they were in the top half of the league in field goal percentage was back in the 2011-12 season when they were 12th. Even during their most recent run of success under Tom Thibodeau they never ranked higher.
Last season the Bulls ranked 26th in field goal percentage.
The positive trend extends beyond the arc for the Bulls too. This season they’re canning their triples at a better than 37 percent clip. That’s a three percent increase over last season and has the Bulls in 10th in the NBA instead of the 22nd they ranked in 2020.
What’s more impressive is they’ve increased their efficiency while decreasing the number of threes they are taking per game.
The improved offensive efficiency has come at the expense of the defense, though. The Bulls aren’t near the top of the league in steals as they were last season. But they’re doing better with assists too with an improved offensive philosophy leading to better looks. They have to tighten up on the less glamorous end but it’s nice to see some offense back in the UC.