Chicago Bulls Season Recap

With today being the last day of the NBA regular season, let’s look back at the absolute “joy” that the Chicago Bulls were. 

Starting with the positives: Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu, Demar Derozan, Alex Caruso, Andre Drummond, and Javonte Green (all five of him). 

Coby White is the most improved player in the league this year. I don’t care that Tyrese Maxey is going to win the award, Coby has improved at everything and has shouldered a completely new role in the process. He went from a player that was a fringe starter to a player that can legitimately be a building block for a competitive core. I see no reason why he would slow down in his development either with all the work he continues to put in.

Former Fighting Illini Ayo Dosunmu has started to emerge as the guy he was in his elite college career. He’s a great defender, loves to run in transition, and isn’t afraid to get the team involved. The development Ayo made, that I frankly did not see coming this quickly, was his scoring ability. Multiple 30 point performances when the team needed it the most, from a guy who was not shooting at a high volume for the first 2 years of his NBA career. If there was an award for most improved throughout the season, Ayo would be a frontrunner.

Demar Derozan. What else can be said about this guy. Led the league in minutes not just this season, but in ANY season since 2020. At 35, Demar is defying the aging process with continued success scoring the ball, all while playing more than any other player has this season. Another underrated part of Derozan’s game has been his playmaking. There are some passes he’s made that I’m left stunned, with nothing to say. I would argue that in many ways Demar has been “too good” just based on our situation, but that’s not his fault nor his problem.

All-Defensive First Team lock again this year for Alex Caruso, and he should be talked about more for DPOY. What Alex Caruso provides to the Chicago Bulls is almost beyond comprehension. There are very few players that can be the sole engine for an entire defense the way that Alex Caruso is for the Bulls, and he has been shooting the 3 at a borderline elite level this season along with it. 

Andre Drummond proved time and time again this season that he’s still a starting caliber center in the NBA. His ability to relentlessly rebound kept the Bulls in so many games this season, especially since the rest of the team was far too undersized to really compete on the boards with the rest of the league. There were only 2 consistent rebounds that Billy Donovan used this season; Nikola Vučević and Andre Drummond. The only difference was that Andre Drummond’s impact on the offensive glass was felt every game. He looks like a guy that should stay in that 25 minutes per game region, but no doubt in those 25 minutes he will have your team look like the best rebounding team in the NBA.

JAVONTE GREEN. SavageWoo breathed life back into the locker room when he was brought back at the end of the season. When Stacey King says there’s 5 Javonte Green’s out there, he really means it. Javonte’s hustle is contagious, as is his energy. It’s a genuine shock to me that he was stuck in the G-League all season.

Now to get into the bad: Injuries, Size, Roster Construction, Do Challenges Exist?

The Bulls were plagued by injuries all season. As much as I don’t like Billy Donovan as the coach, the one thing I will say impressed me this season was how he kept this team in such a competitive spot considering how much the roster and rotation changed throughout the season. No Lonzo Ball for 2.5 years left a hole in the roster, both on the court and in the pockets of the front office. Add on Zach Lavine missing over half the season and Patrick Williams missing a large portion with a season ending injury, the Bulls were short 3 depth chart starters for the most important stretch of the season. With Andre Drummond and Ayo Dosunmu both missing the game today vs. the Knicks, if they aren’t healthy by Wednesday we may see the Bulls with an early exit from the Play-In. 

This next portion is dedicated to the front office that has made 1 in season trade in the last 3 seasons. They did an okay job of addressing the need for shooting this offseason, but they decided that we needed an undersized guard when we already have 3 high level rotational guards, 2 all star caliber wings that are also undersized to play the forward spots, and a player in Lonzo that will use another guard spot once he is back. Jevon Carter was supposed to be a shooter and defender, but he was often abused on defense due to his size, and he couldn’t find his shot for most of the season. When it comes to size, however, Jevon is the least of our problems. After Vučević, Drummond, and Adama Sanogo, who are all pure centers and cannot really play power forward, Patrick Williams is the only other rostered player taller than 6’7”. In this current NBA, especially in this Eastern Conference, you will not win many games. At the top of the conference you have Tatum and Porziņģis, Giannis, Brook Lopez and Bobby Portis, Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson and Isaiah Hartenstein, Evan Mobley and Jarrett Allen, and Joel Embiid for the 76ers. This doesn’t even consider Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, who are both big wings. The Bulls simply do not have the size to match up with these teams. Especially defensively, where the 2 big men are not known at all for their defense. For this offseason, especially in the draft, a big man is a necessity.

Lastly, let’s get into the coaching problems. Using the 2nd least challenges during the season means 1 of 2 things: either you never have questionable calls (which in this era of the NBA has more than its fair share), or you don’t believe that challenges really impact the game. Billy Donovan must fall into the latter because there have been plenty of opportunities to overturn a call. I also struggle to understand the minute distribution used throughout the season. This Knicks game is the perfect example. The Bulls were playing for nothing today, and Donovan decided to use Derozan, Vučević, and Coby White for over 35 minutes in a losing overtime effort. Thankfully nobody got hurt, but for players that are in the top 10 of minutes played this rest could have been extremely helpful. This combined with all of the injuries the team already has, and one more injury might make the Play-in the least competitive game possible. Some players were overplayed, others underplayed. Vučević is a player that has played well when used in the post, but watching games it feels like he’s camped on the 3 point line. Late in games, everybody knew that Demar was going to his iso game, and there never seemed like an outlet if it was getting doubled. There was a players only meeting after the FIRST GAME of the season. The Bulls lost to the Pistons twice and lost to the Wizards. These are all things that lean towards a lack of preparation, and that’s on the coach.

With all the dysfunction from this season, the Bulls still found themselves in the postseason. This upcoming game on Wednesday vs. the Hawks decides if the Bulls offseason starts early. Seeing as there is a slim chance of postseason success for Chicago, the offseason is what I’m really looking forward to. There are many changes and decisions that need to be made. Derozan, Patrick Williams, and Drummond are all important free agents. The Bulls have a chance at the lottery, in a draft that has plenty of players that the Bulls could use. Decisions also need to be made about Zach Lavine, Nikola Vučević, Lonzo Ball, and in my opinion Billy Donovan. Are they going to stay around, will they be traded or cut? These are all choices that the front office must make, and similar to the Chicago Bears, I believe that this offseason is the one that will decide the futures of Artūras Karnišovas and Marc Eversley. Hopefully the Bulls can follow in the steps of their football counterparts.