The Bulls are in an odd spot right now. Chicago is losing games, which is good for draft positioning. The team is 2-8 in its last 10 contests. That stretch includes six straight defeats between Feb. 5 and Feb. 22.
But the rest of the Eastern Conference is so miserable that all that losing isn't doing the Bulls much good. They're still 1.5 games up on the Brooklyn Nets for the final spot in the play-in tournament, and their only win in their last eight games came against the Philadelphia 76ers. A loss to Philly would have put Chicago on the cusp of falling to 11th in the East, out of the play-in and closer to a top pick in the 2025 draft.
But Josh Giddey has been a revelation. The 22-year-old, a career 32.7 percent three-point shooter, is hitting 56.0 percent from deep on 5.0 attempts per game in February. Going back to Jan. 20, he's averaging 17.1 points, 7.9 rebounds, 6.2 assists and 1.3 steals on 51.6 percent shooting from the field and 50.0 percent from beyond the arc.
The last week has been a strange combination of good and bad for Chicago. With all that confusion, here's where some experts in the media rank the team as of Feb. 27.
Where Bulls sit in NBA power rankings for Week 19
NBC Sports: 21
To be honest, this ranking from Kurt Helin is too high. Chicago is not the 21st-best team in the NBA, especially considering how Billy Donovan's team has played over the last few weeks.
Helin writes the obvious: The Bulls are 2-7 (now 2-8 following a loss to the Los Angeles Clippers) in their last 10 but are likely to back into the play-in tournament anyway, especially after the 32-point win over the 76ers.
He mentions Matas Buzelis' entry into the starting lineup as one of Chicago's more promising developments—and then Buzelis promptly scored five points in 26 minutes and was removed from the lineup down the stretch against the Clippers.
ESPN: No. 23
That unfortunate victory over Philly repeatedly gets brought up throughout every outlet's rankings because of how detrimental it was to the Bulls' late-season tanking chances and likely promising spot in the play-in. ESPN's rankings are no different.
Despite that six-game losing streak, The Worldwide Leader moved Chicago up from 24 last week to 23 this week. That's not a positive development.
Yahoo!Sports: 25
Yahoo's Ben Rohrbach has the Bulls in a more fitting spot at No. 25. He focuses on the subtractions of DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine and the effect it has had on Coby White, who's being thrust into the role of No. 1 offensive option.
That hasn't gone well thus far for the 25-year-old. Since Chicago traded LaVine, White is averaging just 11.2 points per game while shooting 38.5 percent from the field and 35.6 percent from three.
That level of production and inefficiency is surely nowhere near what the Bulls hoped for when they dealt LaVine, their top scorer, to the Sacramento Kings.