Losing both a close game on the road and their home opener, the Chicago Bulls have to be feeling a bit rough after that back-to-back. While the Bulls remained close in a 100-102 loss to the Wizards, the Cavaliers laid the smackdown on Chicago to the tune of a 98-126 blowout. It’s up to the Bulls now to pick up the pieces and figure out what comes next.
On a positive note, DeRozan managed to make history as the first Bulls player to ever record 30 points, 5 rebounds, and 5 assists in each of the first two games in a season. This is a tremendous feat not even Michael Jordan himself ever accomplished. Unfortunately, he’d struggle in the third game against Cleveland before ultimately getting ejected on the basis of a questionable call from the officiating crew.
Along with the DeRozan incident, I believe the Bulls have a few things worth reflecting on after a road trip that gave little cause to celebrate and ultimately produced more questions than answers.
The Chicago Bulls still have much work to do if they want to be taken seriously in the East after suffering losses to the Wizards and Cavaliers.
1. Vucevic’s resurgence feels like the real deal
Truth be told, I lost count while keeping track of how many times Stacey King made a point of how Nikola Vucevic needed to get more involved in the paint last season. King’s comments reflected the consensus among the fanbase, as we were forced to watch Vucevic struggle being forced to be little more than a below-average spot-up shooter.
That point seems to have gotten through this year, however, as Vucevic has looked far more assertive and nothing like the timid player we saw last year. Due to his increased usage in the paint, Vucevic is getting to the line and taking more than double his career-high in free throw attempts. These easy points at the line have made all the difference; he’s shot a perfect 16-for-16 through three games and put opposing bigs in foul trouble early and often.
The reason this development is a disheartening takeaway is because the Bulls have failed to capitalize on Vucevic’s improved play. Starting 1-2 after a pair of incredible performances from DeMar DeRozan and a newfound consistency from Vucevic is certainly a less-than-ideal result
2. Billy Donovan is failing to positively impact winning
Don’t get me wrong, Billy Donovan is without a doubt the best head coach the Chicago Bulls have had since the days of Tom Thibodeau. However, that’s a lot like saying Jay Cutler is the best quarterback in Chicago Bears history — sounds impressive, but is it really?
Donovan’s inability to make in=game adjustments is a well-documented fault of his throughout his career, and played a large part in OKC’s decision to go separate ways back in 2020. Aside from that, Billy’s playcalling has once again been suspect, as his ‘random’ offense is quickly deteriorating back to DeRozan isolation sets before our very eyes.
With 7.4 seconds remaining on the clock coming out of the huddle, what justification is there for this being the shot the Bulls take down two points in a critical moment?
Sure, I’m comfortable with DeRozan taking the last shot any day of the week. However, it’s not like Washington’s defense forced him to take a contested deep three. All too often, it feels like the Bulls gameplan is little more than “pass it to DeMar and hope he figures it out.” There’s simply no excuse to have everyone standing around on the wing here instead of cutting for an open look, especially when the team was only down two and didn’t need a three to survive in the first place.
This issue is compounded by the fact Donovan’s rotations destroyed any chance the Bulls had of winning in a competitive game against Cleveland on Saturday. With 1:26 remaining in the first quarter, Donovan substitutes out all three of the Bulls All-Stars instead of staggering their minutes.
When they came off the court, the score was 23-27. When DeRozan returned just 5 minutes later, the deficit had ballooned to 33-51 and Chicago would never be able to close the gap from there. The Bulls looked hapless out there without someone to lead the offense and the defense was equally atrocious, and frankly, we have no one to blame for losing this game more than Donovan himself.