Chicago Bulls: Depth shines in another blowout preseason victory

The Chicago Bulls are back, baby! Alright, perhaps that is a bit premature. It has only been two preseason games after all. And we have been teased with things being “different” before only to be let down when the games actually counted. But after an offseason where Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley finished turning over the roster, this feels different.

Zach LaVine has looked good but that’s to be expected. He was in rare company statistically last season. And he worked on being a better defender while winning a gold medal in Tokyo with Team USA.

Nikola Vucevic is a walking double-double while DeMar DeRozan and Lonzo Ball look like they’ll prove the doubters wrong.

And yet, none of that is necessarily what might set this team apart from previous iterations.

The Chicago Bulls will have a lot of options on offense this season

In their second dominant performance in as many tries, the Bulls beat the New Orleans Pelicans 121-85. Led by LaVine’s 21 points on 57.1 percent shooting, they had three of the other four starters hit double figures in points as well as Alex Caruso off of the bench.

Nikola Vucevic had a better game with 16 points and 10 rebounds. And DeMar DeRozan chipped in in all facets once again. Lonzo Ball also went off for 19 points while canning 5-of-6 threes to go with five boards, four dimes, two steals, and zero turnovers. The trio is doing their part to allay fears of their fit on the court.

There are three players who deserve more mention in all of this and all are reserves

Guard Javonte Green had himself a night against the hapless Cleveland Cavaliers with 13 points, eight rebounds, four blocks, and two steals. On Friday against the Pels, Green had a more modest, but still well-rounded, stat line of seven points, six boards, two assists, one steal, and one block.

Alize Johnson has lived up to his billing and leads the team with 10.0 rebounds per game.

Meanwhile, guard Matt Thomas hasn’t put up great numbers at 9.5 points per game and shooting just 36.4 percent from downtown, but he’s a career 41 percent three-point shooter.

Green and Johnson are both under contract, but Thomas is only on a training camp deal. Perhaps they can convince him to take a two-way contract but they are deep at guard. He would be more of a luxury than necessity, bordering on redundant with Coby White still coming off of the bench.

Hating to see a player like Thomas go, if that winds up being the case, is a good sign of the state of the roster. At one point the issue was hating to see players come back.