Chicago Bulls: 4 players who exceeded expectations in 2020-21

The Chicago Bulls wrapped up the 2020-21 regular season back on May 16, with a win over the divisional foe Milwaukee Bucks. But that wasn’t enough for the Bulls and first-year head coach Billy Donovan to get over the hump and on into the playoffs. This is the fourth straight year that the Bulls missed out on the postseason, and that has to be wearing on the fans.

Following their May 16 win over the Bucks at home at the United Center, Donovan and the Bulls wrapped up the regular season with a record of 31-41. It is a significant improvement over last season when former head coach Jim Boylen was running the ship.. But that was not a very high bar that Boylen set during his time as the Bulls head coach.

A nine-win improvement over last season is a good mark for the Bulls. But they have a long way to go before they’re ready to make a deep postseason run in the Eastern Conference. The Bulls can learn from other teams that improved greatly in the East in the regular season, like the New York Knicks and Atlanta Hawks, heading into next season.

Chicago Bulls players that can be proud of their 2020-21 regular season

With the regular season now in the books, the reflection period can now begin. Executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley need to figure out what the best path forward is for the Bulls. And that likely starts with building around this brewing core of players like rookie forward Patrick Williams, and the star duo of shooting guard Zach LaVine and center Nikola Vucevic.

Yet, players that already exceeded expectations in the season that was for the Bulls should be commended and have a better shot to maintain a significant spot in the rotation moving forward. That’s big to consider since the Bulls have a good number of impending free agents this offseason to make decisions on.

Here’s a look into four Bulls players that exceeded expectations at some point of the 2020-21 regular season. This list includes those who spent a good portion of time with the Bulls but may have been traded away before the conclusion of the 2020-21 campaign.