Chicago Bulls: Early season schedule busy for this team

Head coach Billy Donovan and the Chicago Bulls are gearing up for the start of Training Camp and the preseason in the not-too-distant future. The Bulls just concluded play in the Las Vegas NBA Summer League earlier this week, with a record of 2-3. And now with the Summer League and free agency mostly in the rearview mirror, the focus turns to putting together the roster in Training Camp and the preseason.

The Bulls are set to open up the preseason on Oct. 5 at home at the United Center against the divisional foe Cleveland Cavaliers. But we’ve known the preseason schedule for a few weeks now.

What was announced on the afternoon of Aug. 20 was the highly anticipated regular season schedule. There was an anticipation that the Bulls would open up the regular season against the Detroit Pistons on the road, and then have the home opener at the United Center on Oct. 22 against the New Orleans Pelicans.

And that’s what wound up coming true heading into the weekend. The Bulls will open up the regular season slate on the road in the Motor City on Oct. 20 against rookie sensation Cade Cunningham and the divisional foe Pistons. That will be one of two meetings in the first week of the regular season slate against the Pistons. The Bulls will also face the Pistons at home on Oct. 23.

Chicago Bulls have a busy regular season schedule announced heading into the weekend

The Bulls will get four home games in October, which is a good number. The other two opponents outside of the Pelicans and Pistons are the New York Knicks (Oct. 28) and Utah Jazz (Oct. 30).

What this schedule reveal on Aug. 20 shows is that the Bulls have no downtime before the schedule picks up. The Bulls will face a lot of young talent right away between the Pistons and Pelicans. And then, the November slate might be the toughest of the entire regular season. In the first two weeks of November alone, the Bulls face the Dallas Mavericks once, Philadelphia 76ers twice, Brooklyn Nets once, Boston Celtics once, and Golden State Warriors once.

You can view the official release from the Bulls, thanks to the team’s website here.

This team will be put to the test immediately, and we could get a good feel of where the Bulls could sit in the Eastern Conference standings in due time. We only have around two months until the regular season tips off.

Adding key players this offseason such as the former Pelicans point guard Lonzo Ball and San Antonio Spurs star shooting guard/forward DeMar DeRozan should help to vault the Bulls up the standings this season. The Bulls finished up last season with a record of 31-41 in Donovan’s first year at the helm.