The 2022-23 season was a strange one for the Chicago Bulls. Despite having pretty good health among their starters (well, not including the Lonzo Ball situation), Chicago’s campaign was defined by fits and starts — a three-game winning streak led to a four-game losing streak, which led to back-to-back wins, which led to three losses, etc. For a team that has gone all-in on a core that prominently features three veterans that have made the All-Star Game, that sort of thing is just not supposed to happen.
That inconsistency followed them to the Play-In Tournament, where they knocked off the Toronto Raptors before losing to the Miami Heat and getting sent home before the playoffs even started. It was a perfect encapsulation of Chicago’s season, a step forward being followed up by a step back. But the most fascinating part of it all is what came next, as the team decided to essentially run it back for 2023-24. Will last year’s struggles be the sort of thing they learn from, or should Bulls fans prepare for another season of … whatever last year was?
Biggest Question: Can Their Offense Find A Spark?
A strange thing about the Chicago Bulls last season is that despite building their team around DeMar DeRozan, Zach LaVine, and Nikola Vucevic — who aren’t exactly considered defensively stout — their defense was far better than their offense. Chicago was fifth in the league in defensive rating and 24th in offensive rating, and this happened despite one of the linchpins of their defensive success in 2021-22 (Ball) not playing a single game.
Regardless of whether Billy Donovan and the Bulls coaching staff can build a stout defense again, the team’s offense needs to be better. Chicago just does not shoot threes (they were 30th in the league in makes and attempts last season), are not an especially good offensive rebounding team (28th in offensive rebounding percentage), and were 24th in free throw attempt rate. They hammer teams inside the arc — DeRozan, LaVine, and Vucevic were all in the top-30 in the league in two-point field goals made per game — but it’s nowhere near enough to offset everything else.
Those 4-5 offensive possessions a game that they’d get off of Ball doing something on defense, getting the ball, looking up, seeing LaVine streaking down the floor, and throwing a picture perfect pass all in the span of 1.5 seconds just were not there last year. His willingness and ability to let fly from three were missed, too. The tricky thing with this version of the Bulls and any potential spark on offense is that they’re still built around those three guys and will need to bank a whole lot on internal development for younger players like Ayo Dosunmu, Dalen Terry, Coby White, and Patrick Williams — their two main free agent signings, Jevon Carter and Torrey Craig, are what they are.
X-Factor: Patrick Williams
Maybe one day the answer here will be someone else! For now, Williams just turned 22 and is on the verge of a gigantic season, as he’s slated to hit restricted free agency next summer and is eligible for an extension right up until the day before this season starts. His fit on the Bulls still makes a ton of sense: They need a jumbo, two-way wing to take on the opposing team’s best wing and add some more floor spacing alongside DeRozan. Continuing to round out his game and get better at putting the ball on the floor, or becoming a more disruptive player on defense, or becoming a more imposing rebounder would certainly be welcome.
The big question is what his ceiling even is at this point. The comparisons to Kawhi Leonard that he received coming into the league are pretty clearly out the window. Is he a crucial member of a starting lineup for a good playoff team? Is he a fifth starter for a team that maxes out as a 6-seed? Is he a rotation dude who primarily comes off the bench? He’s only 22 and wanting to bet on him makes sense, but at a certain point, taking a major step forward would be huge. Shooting a good clip from three last year (41.5 percent) on increased volume (3.4 per game, by far the best mark of his career) was a good start, but continuing to progress could be the difference between a nice payday and a monster one.
