NBA Award season is coming to a close. After announcing the All-Rookie First and Second Teams, which included Matas Buzelis, on May 20, the NBA subsequently announced the Most Valuable Player, followed by the All-Defensive Teams.
The All-Defensive First Team is led by the NBA Defensive Player of the Year, Evan Mobley of the 64-win Cleveland Cavaliers. Joining Mobley are Atlanta Hawks' Dyson Daniels, Oklahoma City Thunder's Lu Dort, Golden State Warriors' Draymond Green, and Houston Rockets' Amen Thompson.
No Chicago Bulls received an All-Defensive Team vote
24 players received at least one All-Defensive Team vote. 15 teams saw at least one player nominated for a spot on either team. The Chicago Bulls were one of the 15 less fortunate teams not to see one player receive an All-Defensive Team vote.
Interestingly enough, all four Conference Finals squads either saw a player make the All-Defensive Team or rostered a player who received votes. Dort, Jalen Williams, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Cason Wallace represent the Thunder; Rudy Gobert, Jaden McDaniels, and Anthony Edwards represent the Minnesota Timberwolves; OG Anunoby and Josh Hart represent the New York Knicks; and Myles Turner represents the Indiana Pacers.
A whopping 10 players, currently playing in the Conference Finals, received one of the highest defensive honors. Although offense ultimately reigns supreme in the regular season, defense must not be undervalued, especially in the highly competitive atmosphere that is the NBA Playoffs.
After having back-to-back All-Defensive Team selections (thanks, Alex Caruso), the Bulls are left without a prominent defender following the Caruso-for-Josh Giddey swap last June. While the trade paid dividends, due to Giddey's late-season offensive explosion, it left Chicago to revamp defensively.
Despite a strong defensive effort down the stretch, the Bulls' defense still finished near the bottom of the association in most metrics. Chicago finished 19th in defensive rating, 28th in opponent points per game, 24th in steals, 18th in blocks, and dead last in opponent paint points per game.
Adding a defensive playmaker is assuredly the next step in Chicago's rebuild, as highlighted by the considerable number of All-Defensive vote getters still playing for their respective teams in late May. Unsurprisingly yet interesting enough, only two of 24 players to receive an All-Defensive Team vote suited up for non-playoff squads—Daniels and the Portland Trail Blazers' Toumani Camara
Thus, the NBA's 16 best teams made up for 91.6 percent of the All-Defensive Team vote getters, while the 14 non-playoff participants made up for 8.3 percent. Sure, the better the team, the more recognition, that's distinctly a fact. Nonetheless, it's glaring how much postseason teams make up the league's best defenders. Only three of the 14 playoff teams had no All-Defensive Team vote getters.
Not seeing a player receive an All-Defensive Team vote shouldn't be a wake-up call for the Bulls; porous defensive metrics should. Still, it's an area where Chicago must get better, and it goes to show that high-level defense is key in advancing deep into the postseason.