On Friday, an NBA statistics visual made rounds on social media that should be considered fair warning that the Bulls are likely going to be the stinkiest defense you've ever witnessed in the NBA.
2025-26 Least Efficient Half-Court Defensive Lineups
— Basketball University (@UofBasketball) July 31, 2026
Giving up buckets in the half court pic.twitter.com/UkE3lQEIT7
The advanced NBA analytics-enthusiast social media account, Basketball University, shared analysis from the NBA statistics platform Cleaning The Glass, to identify the top-seven least efficient half-court defensive lineups for the 2026-25 NBA season. To qualify, the lineup needed to log at least 250 defensive possessions in the regular season.
It’s not that a Chicago Bulls lineup appeared in this visual; instead, multiple factions of 2026-27 Chicago Bulls representation are prominent in the visual.
Bulls center Nic Claxton, via his final season with the Brooklyn Nets, Norman Powell in his lone season with the Miami Heat, and a Portland Trail Blazers lineup coached by none other than Bulls head coach Tiago Splitter, who, of course, was the interim head coach of the Trail Blazers for the majority of the 2025-26 NBA season.
This is not a promising defensive recipe
It’s not as if the Bulls had any unanimous defensive building blocks on the roster or even in the coaching staff before the front office turnover that installed Bryson Graham as executive vice president of basketball operations, followed by Graham hiring Splitter as head coach.
Notable coaching staff holdover from former Bulls head coach Billy Donovan’s staff, Wes Unseld Jr. has a reputation for being a defensive-minded coach, yet the Bulls haven’t ranked higher than 18th in NBA defensive efficiency over Unseld’s two seasons as a Bulls assistant coach, dating back to the start of the 2024-25 NBA regular season.
Bulls’ starting point guard Josh Giddey’s lone positive defensive contribution is his rebounding ability, with a career average of six defensive rebounds per game.
Other than rebounding, Giddey is a liability in most point-of-attack defensive scenarios, and despite his size at 6’8”, his closeouts are more likely to create a driving lane instead of stopping a made basket.
Adding a regressed rim-protector in Nic Claxton will put the Bulls in a limbo zone in that Claxton’s rim protection is better than any contribution the Bulls previously received from former center Nikola Vucevic in the rim protection department, yet 2026 Claxton is not 2023 Nic Claxton, who created an NBA defensive-player-of-the-year campaign for himself as a shot blocking machine with the Brooklyn Nets.
Norman Powell will likely become such an offensive focal point for the Bulls that he may become a liability simply by extending maximum energy to score points.
Most of all, there should be real scrutiny about Tiago Splitter’s coaching on the defensive side of the court. Aside from a bad lineup in a social media post, Splitter’s edition of the Portland Trail Blazers was far from a defensive powerhouse.
The 2026-27 NBA season should prove to be a litmus test as to whether Splitter lacked the roster to defend well or if that side of the court simply isn’t in his bag.
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