3 Bulls players that are slumping to start off January
Chicago Bulls players slumping to start January: DeMar DeRozan
The month of January is one of highs and lows for star shooting guard/forward DeMar DeRozan. And that could be the case for him more so than any other player on this team through four games this month. The only other player that could make the case for that is star center Nikola Vucevic, whose hot streak came to a grinding halt against the Mavs over the weekend.
DeRozan obviously started out this month (and the 2022 calendar year) on an extremely high note by hitting the game-winning buzzer-beating three-pointer for the second game in a row. He hit the game-winner for the Bulls to top the Washington Wizards on Jan. 1. And he became the first player in NBA history to hit back-to-back game-winning buzzer-beating three-pointers after knocking out the Wizards on New Year’s Day.
But DeRozan started to come back down to earth last week. That’s led him to post a season-low 103 offensive rating. And he’s tied his season-worst defensive rating through four games this month, at 117.
The shooting splits and scoring numbers for DeRozan also took a hit so far in January. He’s down around six points per game compared to last month. And he’s shooting 45/20/64 this month compared to 52/63/85 last month.
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DeRozan wasn’t bad for the Bulls in the Jan. 9 loss to the Mavs. But he certainly wasn’t posting numbers that would jump off the page at you either. He tied a team-high with 20 points, four rebounds, and eight assists. Nonetheless, DeRozan needs to produce at a higher level in most games if the Bulls want to keep their spot atop the standings in the East for much longer.