Grading Chicago Bulls starters in dominant win over Boston Celtics

Entering Monday night, the Chicago Bulls were far from favorites when posed against the reigning Eastern Conference champion Boston Celtics. In fact, Las Vegas had the Celtics as 5-point favorites over the Bulls yesterday morning, the worst odds Chicago has received so far this season. Despite this, the Bulls would once again claim an upset victory over Boston, with the final tally sitting at 120-102.

This loss breaks the Celtics’ perfect 3-0 start to the season, and likely left their fans quite bitter after a series of technical fouls and ejecitons were assessed to the visiting team. As much as they’d like to blame the officiating, however, the real reason the Celtics lost is simply because the Bulls significantly outplayed them in the second half.

Before we get into the starter’s grades, I would like to first give a shoutout to Javonte Green for his impeccable on-ball defense, Derrick Jones Jr. for being probably the best rim-running threat on this team, and Alex Caruso for posting a team-high +29 plus/minutes in just 18 minutes off of the bench. This team’s depth is the best it’s been in a very long time and will likely be the deciding factor on whether or not Chicago can improve on last season’s 46-win campaign.

The Chicago Bulls had several standout performances from their starters in an upset win over the Boston Celtics.

Ayo Dosunmu’s Grade: A+

Without Ayo Dosunmu out there last night, the Chicago Bulls surely lose a game where at first glance seems they managed to win quite comfortably. Off to a very rocky start in the first half, Ayo’s steadfast performance at the point helped elevate this team and brought them back within striking distance in the second quarter. Dosunmu shot an incredible 9-for-10 from the field and a perfect 4-for-4 from distance. His 22 points were the second-highest on the team as he asserted himself in a way he was incapable of doing in the previous two contests.

If Dosunmu can continue playing this well, the wait for Lonzo Ball to return to basketball duties will be a far less painful experience for these Chicago Bulls.

Zach LaVine’s Grade: C-

After inking a historically large $215 million deal over the summer, Zach LaVine has yet to show us enough this season to prove he was worth such a burdensome investment. You have to hope he’s just taking his time ramping things up, but a 5-for-15 shooting night where his three turnovers outnumbered his pair of assists was less than reassuring. LaVine’s much-improved defense is his one silver lining from last night, something the team would undoubtedly like to see more from him as the season progresses.

DeMar DeRozan’s Grade: B+

We are quickly becoming so accustomed to DeMar DeRozan‘s greatness that even a very efficient 25 point, 5 rebound, 5 assist performance begins to feel like just another Monday. DeRozan quietly contributed a  bucket whenever things got shaky for the Bulls, but he was ultimately content to let his teammates steal the show despite being Chicago’s leading scorer.

Nights like these prove just how valuable DeMar has become to this team as a leader, as he never showed signs of frustration or forced his shot once the Bulls went down by as much as 19 points in the first quarter. Without DeRozan there to set an example, it’s hard to say if this team would have actually managed to come back and steal a win.

Patrick Williams’ Grade: F

We are four games into the season and have season just as many disastrous performances from Patrick Williams in that time. It’s hard to pinpoint where exactly everything began to fall apart, but it’s hard to deny the fact Pat has been anything short of a massive disappointment thus far in a season where we all expected him to make a leap in his development.

Williams shot 2-for-7 from the field last night and was limited to just 14 minutes of playtime due to the fact the team looked better with him off of the court. In fact, Williams was the only Bulls player to post a negative plus/minus, a damning indictment of the negative impact he’s currently having on this team.

Nikola Vucevic’s Grade: A

It’s almost frustrating how big of a difference it has made allowing Nikola Vucevic to play a more low post-oriented brand of basketball. Vucevic struggled mightily last season when forced to be primarily a spot-up shooter, and making the obvious decision to let him bang down in the paint has done wonders for his game. Vucevic contributed 18 points, 5 assists, and an unbelievable 23 rebounds ⁠— 10 of which came on the offensive end⁠ — in just 30 minutes of action.

To put that into perspective, the Bulls averaged just 8.7 offensive rebounds as a team last season. By incorporating Vucevic into the interior game plan and adding Andre Drummond to the bench unit, this team should ideally no longer be one of the worst rebounding teams in basketball. The only thing holding him back from an A+ grade here is the fact his jump shot still isn’t falling, but if he can improve on that and get to league-average levels, I believe Vucevic could contend for his third All-Star appearance.