In the midst of the Chicago Bulls preseason meeting at home at the United Center on Oct. 8 with the New Orleans Pelicans, second-year head coach Billy Donovan really looks to have a completely different team on his hands. He’s got players like star shooting guard/forward DeMar DeRozan, shooting guard Zach LaVine, and center Nikola Vucevic playing some actual defense in the first two games of their preseason slate.
And while I keep mentioning (each day it feels like in the last week or so) that you can’t take too much away from any preseason games for the Bulls, it’s hard to ignore players like DeRozan and Vucevic standing out on defense at any one point in time. That’s why you have to have some level of excitement from the defensive performances of these Bulls star players in the first couple of games of this preseason slate.
Last season, Vucevic mostly remained a net negative defender. He wasn’t as adept defensively as a few of the other big men that the Bulls had last season at different points, including centers Wendell Carter Jr., Daniel Gafford, and Daniel Theis.
Nikola Vucevic looking great on defense for the Chicago Bulls
And that was a big concern coming into this season for Donovan and the Bulls. But what we’ve seen out of the Bulls through two games this preseason inspires some level of confidence about where this team’s defense is headed.
In the preseason opener win over the Cavaliers back on Oct. 5, Vucevic came up with one steal and one block. And he registered a defensive rating south of 100, which is definitely a rarity for him on the floor with either the Bulls or from his days with the Orlando Magic.
And then, in the current game where the Bulls are beating the Pelicans, Vucevic has registered four steals and eight defensive rebounds thus far in another stout effort for him on that end of the floor.
Four steals is something that you rarely see in one game out of Vooch. More than half of the seasons he’s played in the NBA didn’t even see him come up with a game-high four steals.
Vooch has always been a good rebounder that can get a respectable amount of blocks and steals. But putting up these types of numbers isn’t something that we’re using to seeing out of him.
This could be a product of good defenders around Vooch, or just two lackluster opponents to start out the preseason. I’m still not personally expecting Vooch to have a standout defensive season. But this could be a season where Vooch puts up some of the best defensive numbers of his career. That possibility is well within reach.
Vucevic and the Bulls held the Pelicans to under 40 points in the first half. And the Bulls are looking to come up with more than 40-point win over the Pelicans in the second game of the preseason slate when it’s all said and done at the United Center on the night of Oct. 8.