Yes, the Chicago Bulls’ big win came against a very depleted Brooklyn Nets team. They were only missing two players, but when those two people are Kevin Durant and James Harden, you understand where the hesitation of some to celebrate comes from. On top of it being just a regular-season game, that is.
Now that that’s out of the way, what a great victory Sunday’s 115-107 win over the Nets was. The Bulls showed a flow offensively we hadn’t seen since they made the trade for Nikola Vucevic at the deadline.
In the four previous games, Vooch played O.K.; putting up decent stats albeit while struggling with his deep ball some. But against the Nets, he had an easy 22 points and 13 rebounds. His three-point shot was still off, falling just 25 percent of the time. But he looked much more comfortable with his teammates and vice versa.
This led to some interesting developments around him.
One, Lauri Markkanen’s play coming off of the bench looked better. He only had eight points but he grabbed five boards and shot 50 percent from the floor while only taking one three (which he missed). He didn’t force anything and gave you more than just shot attempts.
We got to see him work with Daniel Theis. The paring looks to have some staying power for the rest of the season as they compliment each other well.
There was also another flash of Troy Brown Jr. Largely treated as an add-in of the deal that ultimately brought Theis to Chicago, Brown has played feisty defense and enough of a scoring punch that the calls for him to get more minutes are growing louder.
Absent from all of this has been Coby White who missed the game while going through health and safety protocols after missing the previous two games with a sore neck.
White hasn’t been the same offensive dynamo he was last season. White averaged 13.2 points per game and 2.7 assists while grabbing 3.5 boards and almost a steal per game. This season he’s averaging more points and a better field goal percentage but has looked hesitant and has struggled from outside. Both are areas the Bulls need him to be at his best.
New roles being set for the Chicago Bulls
Trying to become more of a traditional point guard doesn’t suit him and affected his play (just as it has with Markkanen in the past and Wendell Carter who’s now in Orlando). But a second unit of White, Brown, Denzel Valentine, Markkanen, and Theis should be entertaining enough if not able to keep the Bulls competitive when Vucevic and Zach LaVine sit.
There’s been a lot of talk about the future of Markkanen; who’s gone from being viewed as a franchise cornerstone to a middling trade chip. But White isn’t far behind in that discussion.
He’s only in his second season but there is a different level of expectations with this new front office. One that doesn’t have time for the mental growing pains most younger players go through.
It’s why Carter looks better in Orlando. Or how Chandler Hutchison had his (single-game) breakout. Lesser expectations.
White will have to find his role quickly upon returning just as Markkanen has appeared to. The former has a much better chance of sticking around beyond this season. But it’s not that much better. Might as well put some good tape out to make the choice tough on the Bulls and entice other teams.
As for the Bulls, they found a nice rhythm offensively against a Nets team without its best two players.
So what.
We all saw how well they played against a still-tough opponent. And you have to win the games you’re supposed to before you can think about being a regular in the playoffs. This was a big step in that direction.
That they looked good doing it was just icing on the cake.