Everybody knows what the Chicago Bulls need this season in order to be a great team and come up with great results. Will it happen, though? Only time will tell.
What Went Wrong Last Season?
One very simple thing went wrong for the Bulls last season, and it was little different from the previous season. Derrick Rose went down early in the season with an injury, destroying any hopes Chicago had of being an NBA title contender. It’s not hard to understand: Rose created offense on his own. He didn’t need a set system or a structured offense. When Rose is playing his physical style of getting to the rim and drawing fouls, he’s extremely difficult to defend. With Rose on the court, defenses have to respect the Bulls’ offense because they have to prevent Rose from getting to the basket if at all possible. Defenses sag and pack the paint, and this is what enables Chicago to free up shooters on the wings and in the corners. With Rose out, the Bulls’ offense withered.
In various offensive categories, Chicago finished with these rankings out of the NBA’s 30 teams last season: 24 (three-point shooting percentage), 26 (threes made), 27 (field goals attempted), and 30 (field goals made, overall shooting percentage, and two-point percentage). The Bulls just had too much riding on one player, Rose, to then be able to adjust once he went out. The other thing to keep in mind here is that the Bulls were without Rose in the 2012-2013 season. The team adjusted extremely well to his absence then and were able to win a playoff series. All the players on the team could not handle the stress and strain that went with trying to compensate for Rose’s absence for a second straight year.
This team still competed extremely well, but it had absolutely nothing left when the playoffs arrived. The Washington Wizards had virtually no experience, but they had young legs, and that speed was easily able to run past the Bulls’ dead legs. The players who kept the ship afloat for a second straight season without Derrick Rose were ultimately spent. That was the harsh reality of the Bulls’ season.
Offseason Changes
The Bulls know they need better post play and more scoring, so what did they do? They came up with a few great pickups. They got Pau Gasol from the Los Angeles Lakers, an addition that should really help them out. Gasol is not a leading man, but he can still be a very strong contributor on a team. Nikola Mirotic is a power forward who can shoot threes. Coming from Europe, he gives the Bulls new dimensions on the court. Main draft pick Doug McDermott has virtually unlimited range as a shooter and his going to be able to stretch defenses.
Projected Finish
The Bulls play in the same division as the Cleveland Cavaliers, so they’re not going to be a top-three seed in the East. If Rose stays healthy, though, Chicago should end up with the second-best record in the conference and a number four spot.
Pick: Second In The Eastern Conference
