A problem that has surfaced for second-year head coach Billy Donovan and the Chicago Bulls in the last few games lies in the rebounding department. For much of the season, the Bulls were outrebounded. In the two losses to the Philadelphia 76ers last week, the Bulls did win the battle on the glass. But it took late rallies in both games to get that edge over the Sixers.
As a whole this season, rebounding remained a prevalent issue for the Bulls. The Bulls currently rank 28th in the NBA in rebounds per game. Some of that has to do with the fact that the Bulls aren’t getting a chance to get all that many rebounds in their games. The Bulls have allowed their opposition to haul in around 45 rebounds per game, compared to roughly 43 themselves.
To find a more effective illustration of the Bulls’ rebounding issues to start the season, you can look at the team’s offensive and defensive rebounding percentages. The Bulls rank 20th in the NBA in defensive rebounding percentage (77.0) and 23rd in offensive rebounding percentage (20.2) so far this season.
Some of the issues that the Bulls have on the boards should be able to be fixed by giving more key minutes to just two reserves in the frontcourt unit. Center Tony Bradley leads the Bulls in offensive rebounding percentage so far this season, at 22.4. He’s also just generically the team leader in total rebounding percentage this season.
Power forward Alize Johnson is also an option for Donovan and the Bulls to give more minutes to off the bench. Johnson is a tremendously efficient rebounder, he just wasn’t given much of a chance to make an impact in this department out of the gates during the regular season.
Moreover, the only Bulls’ player that even has a total rebounding percentage north of 12.0 this season, outside of Johnson and Bradley, is star center Nikola Vucevic. The problem here lies within the fact that Vucevic is the only Bulls player with a total rebounding percentage of at least 12.0 that also is getting double-digit minutes per game.
Bradley and Johnson are both averaging fewer than 10 minutes per game so far this season. When the Bulls face a team that is good on the glass, like the Sixers, these two need to get more playing time with the second and/or third units.
Given the struggles that Vucevic is facing right now on the offensive end of the floor, the Bulls really aren’t giving up all that much scoring production by playing someone like Johnson or Bradley in his place. The fact of the matter is that Johnson and Bradley are also both better defenders than Vucevic.
Until Vucevic can find his offensive game this season, Donovan should take advantage of the fact that he’s got some resources to turn to off the bench.
It would be smart for the Chicago Bulls to play Alize Johnson and Tony Bradley more often to win the battle on the boards
There is a potential bigger problem that this could turn into this season for the Bulls. The Bulls play in one of the best divisions in the NBA in terms of strong rebounding teams. The Indiana Pacers, Milwaukee Bucks, and Detroit Pistons, all rank in the top half of the NBA in defensive rebounding percentage. And those three also rank in the top dozen teams in the NBA this season in total rebounding percentage.
Once the Bulls get into a heavier portion of the regular season schedule that involves division battles, Donovan will have a major issue on his hands. The Bucks have a number of players that can dominate down low, namely Giannis Antetokounmpo, Bobby Portis, and Brook Lopez. The Pacers are also a real force to be reckoned with down low between big men Domantas Sabonis and Myles Turner.
Rebounding is going to be something that could get the Bulls in trouble if the coaching staff doesn’t adjust as necessary when facing some of the better teams on the boards moving forward. When the Bulls face teams that aren’t good on the glass or play with mostly small-ball lineups too, then it’s fine to run with the smaller units. Otherwise, Donovan needs to get the likes of Johnson and Bradley more minutes soon.
Following two straight losses to the Sixers last week, the Bulls currently sit with a record of 6-3. There is another difficult test on tap for the Bulls against superstars Kevin Durant and James Harden and the Brooklyn Nets on Nov. 8.