Offense, not defense, is the Chicago Bulls’ biggest weakness

When your season gets off to a rough start, as it has for the Chicago Bulls, it’s all too easy to begin pointing fingers. This player hasn’t added anything to their game, so-and-so doesn’t look like he’s worth his contract, that guy is washed up, there’s no shortage of criticism to be found. If you listen long enough, soon you’ll start believing that each and every player on this roster is irredeemable.

Obviously, that is not the case and would be a hyperbolic overreaction. But there are signs of faults in the foundation here, indicating the Chicago Bulls may be broken at a fundamental level and in desperate need of a visit from a construction crew. Take, for instance, this excellent in-depth article by CHGO’s Will Gottlieb that outlines the Bulls’ failure to competently defend the three-point line.

But instead of focusing in on the defense, which has surprisingly achieved the 13th-best defensive rating in the league through seven games, I’d like to turn my attention to the offense. Despite a plethora of offensive firepower on the roster, the Bulls have one of the NBA’s bottom-rung offenses, ranking 21st in offensive rating.

The Chicago Bulls need to make vast changes to their offensive scheme if they wish to realize their full potential.

Watching the games, it’s abundantly clear that an over-reliance on DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine has resulted in a lack of off-ball movement to get easy looks in the paint and open jump shots.

The Bulls are once again one of the league’s worst three-point shooting teams, taking the 2nd fewest attempts from distance per game, without last year’s ridiculous efficiency to compensate. They’re also failing to establish a presence in the paint, averaging the 3rd fewest points per game. It’s a good thing the Bulls aren’t looking for new management, because I fear Chicago’s shot chart would make Daryl Morey nauseous at the sight of it.

History has proven team that a team that refuses to shoot the middy — like Morey’s Houston Rockets teams led by James Harden and Chris Paul — is not a recipe that adds up to a championship. However, it’s sure to see a whole lot more success than whatever it is we’re watching right now.

I was willing to give the Bulls a pass for their disjointed in the second half of last season, since they couldn’t have possibly predicted the impact significant injuries to four of the rotation’s top six players would have, on top of COVID-19 ravaging the roster midseason. With a full offseason and training camp under their belts now, there’s simply no excuse for this team’s inability to run an offense without Lonzo Ball present.

Just look at how different the Chicago Bulls’ offense looks with Lonzo on the court. In a mere 35 games played last season, Ball produced a full-length highlight reel of Magic Johnson-esque passes in transition.

You’ll immediately notice how nearly every possession in this reel comes in transition and ends with easy points in the paint. The Bulls simply lack that dynamic full court with Ball absent from the lineup. As enjoyable as DeRozan’s slow-paced and methodical approach is to watch, it’s an asset that needs to be reserved for moments when the shot clock (or game clock) is running thin.

The fewer isolation sets the Bulls run early on, the better they’ll play as a team and the less run-down DeRozan and LaVine will feel by the end of the regular season. Unless they’re a flamethrower from deep and knocking down spot-up shots at a ridiculous rate — looking at you Ayo Dosunmu — we need to see far less standing around in the corner from players like Patrick Williams and far more off-ball screens and cuts to the basket, an important job where Javonte Green has found immense success as of late.

Until the Bulls can make these necessary corrections, they’ll continue trotting one of the NBA’s worst defenses out there on the court. The reality for this team is exactly what we all feared entering the season, Chicago needs Lonzo back and healthy as soon as possible.