Likely Bulls' starting lineup has 2 glaring problems

The Chicago Bulls are a team without an identity. 

Not bad enough to be considered a tanker or rebuild, not good enough for anyone to worry about. 

They have some quality talent, but it’s questionable whether it all fits, especially when you look at their most likely starting lineup. 

Projected Chicago Bulls starting lineup 

Unless there are trades or injuries before the season, it’s hard to see anything but this as the starting five on opening night:

-Josh Giddey 

-Coby White 

-Zach LaVine 

-Patrick Williams 

-Nikola Vucevic 

Giddey and White are the backcourt of the present and future, so they are going to be in the starting five. The Bulls just traded to get Giddey and want to see if White has another level in an expanded role. 

LaVine and Vucevic have to be in there to showcase themselves for a trade. LaVine has to show he is healthy and Vucevic that he remembers how to shoot. 

The Bulls just inexplicably gave Patrick Williams a $90 million contract, so it would be tough for them to bench him in favor of a rookie, though I wouldn’t be shocked if that happened at some point next season. 

There are factors at play other than just fit, otherwise, you could certainly make an argument for other combinations of players that offer a better balance. 

But this is what it is likely to be, and there are some glaring problems. 

This team is going to be horrible defensively 

I’ve written about this before, but the Bulls have a chance to have a historically bad defense with this starting five. 

LaVine wasn’t a good defender before a surgery that might cost him a step. White is undersized, Giddey was so terrible that he had to be benched in the playoffs. Vucevic can’t defend the rim or in space, so four out of the five starters are below average defenders at best and at worst, downright bad. 

Even Williams is wildly overrated as a defender (the Kawhi comps were absurd), certainly not good enough to cover the many holes in the starting lineup.

Putting Ayo Dosunmu or  Lonzo Ball into the starting five would help, but which player are you going to bench? A guy you’re paying over $40 million who you want to trade? The guy you just traded for who you want to be the point guard of the future? Coby White? 

The Bulls are going to have to score a lot when this lineup is on the floor, as they are going to let up a ton of points. 

Who is going to run the offense? 

The idea since acquiring Giddey has been to let him be the general of the offense, but how is that going to work when both LaVine and White need the ball in their hands to be effective? 

White has never been a great catch-and-shoot guy and LaVine has averaged a 29 percent usage rate in his seven seasons with the Bulls, he’s never been a guy who plays strictly off the ball. 

Then you add in some obligatory touches for Vucevic and this gets even tougher. This can be a good problem to have, as the Bulls will have plenty of shooting, and if they are willing to play unselfishly, they will be tough to stop on offense. 

But it could also lead to Josh Giddey playing mostly off the ball like when he was in OKC and we saw how that worked out. Once LaVine is traded, this problem should somewhat work itself out, but with three ball-dominant players in the starting five, touches and shots are going to be an issue.