As the Chicago Bulls did get a solid win to start off the week over the Miami Heat and their former star shooting guard/small forward Jimmy Butler on the night of April 26, questions still loom about the direction of this team. First-year head coach Billy Donovan saw his Bulls team play some dramatically inconsistent basketball since the trade deadline. This is also a common theme that has existed under Donovan’s direction for much of the season so far.
It was nice to see the Bulls get the win over the Heat and head coach Erik Spoelstra on the road on April 26. This win over the Heat showed a side of the Bulls on the defensive end of the floor that we don’t get to see that often. Led by the efforts of newly acquired big man Daniel Theis and combo guard Tomas Satoransky, the Bulls barely saw the Heat get over 100 points.
Although the Bulls have played well defensively in some of their wins in the past couple of weeks, namely against the Boston Celtics, Charlotte Hornets, and in one of two meetings with the Heat, the results are anything but assured on a nightly basis. The Bulls have regressed defensively this season, which doesn’t come as a huge surprise.
Chicago Bulls needing to improve on defense
Last season under the direction of former head coach Jim Boylen, the Bulls ranked 12th in the NBA in defensive rating. This season, they have moved back five spots, down to 17th, in defensive rating. And while that doesn’t look all that bad on the surface, there are times that the Bulls just collapse completely on that end of the floor.
The Bulls also rank in the bottom five in the NBA in steals per game, field goal percentage allowed, total two-point field goals, and are in the bottom 10 in total free throws allowed. There’s still ample room for improvement on the defensive end of the floor this season.
If the Bulls were to turn to the free agent market to solve any of their defensive woes, who would be worth targeting?