Bulls Have Been Swiftly Blasted Back to Reality

March 31st communicated one thing— the Bulls are still far away from being a contender.

After a winning streak, the Chicago Bulls got blown out by the number one team in the league. This loss is a good reminder that rebuilding takes multiple years.

Playing the number one team is a great way to compare what they do right and what the Bulls do wrong. Here is a look at what the Bulls need to do to compete.

Baby Bulls Need to Grow Up

It is very encouraging to see the Bulls’ youth step up and win meaningful games at the end of the season. Billy Donovan deserves recognition for his ability to develop his youth while focusing on winning.

But the players are still young.

The second quarter was filled with mistakes. The Bulls had seven turnovers to OKC’s one. Chicago turned the ball over five possessions in a row in that quarter.

Turnovers have been an issue for the Bulls the entire season. They are 19th in the league, averaging 14.6 turnovers per game. That comes with having a high pace but also with a young team. Josh Giddey and Coby White constantly get caught in the air while driving. Leaving your feet to make a pass is a bad habit. Well-coached teams will notice this habit and rack up steals, especially in playoff scenarios where teams only focus on scouting one team.

What can the Bulls learn from this? Teams with low turnovers usually win. The five teams that average the fewest turnovers per game are the Celtics, Thunder, Cavaliers, Knicks, and Pacers. It is not a coincidence that the top three teams in the league average the fewest turnovers per game.

Defense Wins Everything

Everyone has heard the saying that defense wins championships, but it also wins regular-season games. The Thunder have the best defensive rating in the league, and it was clear against Chicago.

Chicago’s defense improved over March. This good defense, along with Giddey and White’s offense, is the reason the Bulls are 6-4 in their last 10 games.

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The Houston Rockets and Detroit Pistons have drastically improved from last season. The Rockets went from missing the playoffs to currently sitting as the two seed in the West. The Pistons have tripled their win total from last season— the first team in history to accomplish that.

What do these two teams have in common? They improved their defense. The Rockets had the 10th-best defensive rating last season at 112.8. This season, they are fourth in the league now with 109.6. Team defensive rating is calculated by (points allowed/possessions) * 100.

The Pistons made an even bigger jump. The Pistons had a defensive rating of 118 and were 25th in the NBA last season. This season, Detroit jumped up to ninth in the NBA with a 112.1 rating.

If you defend, the wins will come. Improving their defense helped transform a 14-win team into a 42-win team in just one season. It is highly unlikely that Chicago will improve their defensive rating by six like the Pistons did last year, but focusing on defense can turn the Bulls from a yearly play-in team to a playoff team.

Winning Teams Need a Star Wing Player

Over the past 10 years, only two champions have had a guard as their best player: the Warriors in 2015 and 2022. Going back to 2010, there have only been four teams: the two Warriors teams and the Lakers in 2010. Meaning, unless your guard is a top 15 player all-time, it is unlikely you will win the championship.

Giddey and White are the Bulls’ best players, and both are guards. Nobody is arguing that they can be the best players on a championship team, but history tells the front office they need to get a dominant wing player to have a chance.

This leads to the tanking argument. How much impact does a player with upside like Cooper Flagg bring to the Bulls versus a player taken with the 10th pick? Or is Matas Buzelis going to develop into that star wing, and should the focus be surrounding him with pieces?

There is Good News for the Bulls

The good news for the Bulls is that these three things can be addressed. Growing up happens when you play meaningful games against other competing teams. Donovan has repeatedly preached that building a winning culture and playing meaningful games is how he will develop his young team.

Defense can be improved over the offseason. The two examples mentioned happened over an offseason, but they did not happen by chance. Amen Thompson developed in his second year for the Rockets. Having a lockdown defender play 30 minutes per game is an easy fix to a defense.

The Pistons changed head coaches to fix their defense. J.B. Bickerstaff was previously with the Cavaliers. In his three seasons as the Cavaliers’ head coach, Cleveland was in the top 10 in defensive ratings all three years and was number one in the 2022-23 season.

Chicago must add a rim protector to fix their defense. Nikola Vucevic does not fit the team’s direction and is a poor paint defender. The Bulls give up the most points in the paint per game.

Getting someone like Khaman Maluach should be the priority in the draft.

As for the star wing player, the Bulls have to get lucky, either with the draft or free agency. They also have to decide on Giddey and White’s contracts. Depending on how much cap space they take up, Chicago will not have the space to pay a star player. The Bulls have made it clear they are not going to tank, so they must get lucky with the draft lottery or hope Buzelis becomes a top-ten player in the league.

Chicago has a great starting point for a rebuild. Usually, rebuilding teams don’t have a 22-year-old as good as Giddey, or an Eastern Conference Player of the Month like White.

The stretch since the All-Star break has been encouraging for the future, but the Bulls are still years away from being a championship contender with their current roster.