On the night of March 11, first-year head coach Billy Donovan and the Chicago Bulls will resume their quest to climb up the Eastern Conference standings during the second half of the regular season schedule. The Bulls wrapped up the first half of the regular season as one of the most improved teams in the East, carrying a record of 16-18 at the All-Star Break.
Donovan and the Bulls are now just two days away from starting the second half of the regular season slate. Their next game up will come against the team with the best record in the East at this point in time, the Philadelphia 76ers and head coach Doc Rivers. The star duo of center Joel Embiid and point guard Ben Simmons is rolling, although they didn’t get to participate in the All-Star Game.
If the Bulls can get a win over the Sixers out of the gates to start off the second half of the regular season, it would go a long way to proving how far this young core has come after an offseason full of change from the top-down. This is essentially the same roster that the Bulls had last season, just now they are legitimately looking like a lower-seeded playoff team at this point of the year.
A push from the Bulls to make the playoffs this year would mean more pieces of their rotation stepping up down the stretch than they did during the first half. If the Bulls can get some other players to step up down the stretch, which three would be most likely to provide that spark?