Chicago Bulls: Where BR picked the team to finish in the standings

Now less than two months away from the start of the regular season for the Chicago Bulls, head coach Billy Donovan is gearing up for a critical 2021-22 campaign. The Bulls made a lot of moves to make a sizable leap up the standings in the Eastern Conference next season.

And with the regular season schedule release coming through last weekend, the Bulls now know what the path forward looks like to get back in postseason contention this coming season. Donovan and the Bulls still have a lot of work to do to get this new-look rotation set.

Yet, there’s more excitement surrounding this Bulls team than we’ve seen in the past five or six years. It’s impossible to not see the improvement in the Bulls’ roster entering next season. Adding the likes of point guard Lonzo Ball and star shooting guard/forward DeMar DeRozan to a core that already featured the trio of star center Nikola Vucevic, star shooting guard Zach LaVine, and to-be second-year forward Patrick Williams looks very potent.

But how do most media outlets feel about the Bulls heading into next season?

How do the Chicago Bulls project for the 2021-22 season?

The projected standings for the 2021-22 regular season from Andy Bailey of Bleacher Report last weekend has the Bulls actually making a large leap up the standings in the East. The Bulls were projected here to finish up next season with a record of 47-35, good for second place in the Central Division behind the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks.

That does have the Bulls in front of the Indiana Pacers, which would be the first time in a while that happened. The Cleveland Cavaliers and Detroit Pistons round out the bottom of the division standings here.

This record for the Bulls projects them to finish tied with the Boston Celtics for fifth in the East. That’s a nice improvement for the Bulls in these hypothetical projections.

Here’s more on what this BR piece has to say on the Bulls’ projected record for next season.

"All of the doubt regarding the Chicago Bulls’ defense is probably warranted. And yes, both DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine have historically been high-usage players. But the amount of offensive talent here feels like too much to fail.Last season, Nikola Vucevic, LaVine, DeRozan and Lonzo Ball ranked 17th, 18th, 28th and 76th, respectively, in offensive box plus/minus. And the lowest mark for assists per 75 possessions among those four was Vooch’s 4.2."

This piece notes that the additions of Lonzo and DeRozan are a big reason why the Bulls can see this type of jump in the standings. And it’s not out of the question that the Bulls would’ve made the playoffs anyway had Vooch and LaVine played together for a full season.

Moreover, this record projection for the Bulls would signal a 16-win improvement compared to last season. Donovan and the Bulls finished up last season with a record of 31-41, which saw them miss out on the postseason for the fourth straight year.

This new core that the Bulls formed should be more than enough to finally get the team over the postseason hump. That appeared to be the main goal at hand for the Bulls’ front office given all of the high-risk moves made this summer.

Donovan and the Bulls are set to open up Training Camp in a little more than one month, specifically on Sep. 28. And then, the Bulls open up the regular season slate on Oct. 20 on the road against the divisional foe Pistons.