Lopsided loss to Magic shows changes to the starting lineup need to be made

Following last night's loss to the Orlando Magic, the Chicago Bulls are 8-12 on the season, tied for 10th place in the unimposing Eastern Conference. Chicago holds the ninth-worst record in the NBA, good enough to retain their 2025 first-round draft pick.

The Bulls are in a precarious position. They're seemingly too good to secure a high draft pick but not good enough to compete in the postseason. What's most frustrating is the uncertainty of Chicago's draft position. The San Antonio Spurs own the Bulls' first-rounder if it falls outside the top 10. Thus, it's much preferred Chicago stacks up more losses than wins.

Conversely, if the Bulls continue holding onto Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic, why not build a better roster around the former All-Stars? The Bulls are outmatched, and it showed in last night's defeat. LaVine and Vucevic only combined for 27 points, all but guaranteeing a notch in the loss column.

The Magic ravaged the Bulls' starters

Besides the aforementioned stars, Chicago's other starters combined for just 43 points. To make matters worse, Ayo Dosunmu, who isn't a regular in the opening unit, made up 21 of the 43 points. Coby White scored nine, while Josh Giddey chipped in 13.

Dosunmu tied Vucevic for the best plus/minus of the quintet. Both players were minus-19 on the night, a point better than Giddey, two better than LaVine, and ten better than White's team-worst mark of minus-29. White's minus-29 was his worst plus/minus all season, further encapsulating the starter's poor performance.

The reserves fared quite differently. Only two bench player's plus/minuses dipped below zero—Matas Buzelis, who spent the most time alongside the starters, and Dalen Terry, who played two minutes before exiting with an ankle injury. The rest of the reserves were at least plus-5 against the Magic.

This theme isn't abnormal. Throughout the season, no Chicago starters possess a positive net rating. The only Bulls in the green are bench players: Lonzo Ball (20.0), Jevon Carter (17.6), Chirs Duarte (8.8), Talen Horton-Tucker (6.6), and E.J. Liddell (3.8). The closest starter to zero is LaVine, who comes in at minus-0.7.

Despite relatively high offensive ratings from Chicago's opening unit, their defensive ratings are far worse. For instance, Dosunmu's defensive rating of 120.5 ranks in the bottom 10th percentile of the NBA. His counterparts aren't far off, Giddey is only slightly better at 120.2, while Vooch comes in at 119.0.

Chicago's poor defensive begins and ends with the starters

The Bulls starters are not good defensively, and last night painted the picture. Chicago was outscored 38-25 in the opening frame. The Bulls allowed the league-worst three-point shooting team to cash in on six triples in the first 12 minutes of action.

The Magic finished the contest, converting 15-of-38 triples, 38.5 percent, an eight percent increase over their season total. Not only did Chicago allow the Magic to connect on a high rate of three-pointers, but they also allowed Orlando to rack up 60 points in the paint and convert on 51.1 percent of their field goals. If allowing an inefficient offense to score the ball efficiently isn't an indicator of poor defense, then I don't know what is.

A change must be made, and it's evident it must come from the starting lineup. There's no reason to believe a quintet of Giddey, White, LaVine, Dosunmu, and Vucevic can defend adequately. Substitute the injured Patrick Williams for Ayo, and results remain substandard. It's time to experiment with different opening lineups, especially if Lonzo shakes his injury bug.