Bulls' defense bottoms out on Day One
The Bulls will get two chances this weekend to fix their terrible, horrible, no good, very bad defense.
How bad was it in the season-opening loss to Atlanta? Well, according to Bulls radio statistician Jeff Mangurten, the 83 points scored by the Hawks was the second-most in NBA history on the first half of opening night. The record is 87 by Golden State against the Paul Westhead-coached Denver Nuggets in 1990. It was Westhead's debut, in fact.
So there's nowhere to go but up for the Bulls and they already made slight progress. After allowing the Hawks to score 40+ in each of the first two quarters, the Bulls limited Atlanta to 28 points in the third and then 13 in the fourth after benches cleared.
Looking back at that ugly opener, here are some thoughts:
• Surely most Bulls fans remember last year's defensive scheme, which was to blitz and trap pick-and-rolls just about every time. There hasn't been much time for new coach Billy Donovan to put in a new scheme and center Wendell Carter Jr., in particular, seemed hesitant about how he should handle pick-and-rolls.
Then add the fact that Atlanta's Trae Young is one of the toughest guards to stop in the Eastern Conference, and it was easy to see why the Hawks got rolling. Carter had a low-energy, ineffective game in general and it was probably a mix of uncertainty and frustration at his poor start offensively.
"Lot of us got inside of our own heads, including myself, worrying about the stuff that happened rather than worrying about the moment," Carter said after the game. "I've just got to do better, just doing what I do best. I just talked to my teammates, apologized for my effort that I showed tonight, and I will be better for my team."
Carter was one of the Bulls' most reliable defenders last season. Don't forget, the Bulls - with their trapping scheme - ranked fifth in the league in defensive rating last year when Carter went down with an ankle injury.
• Neither Zach LaVine nor Coby White is used to being a defensive specialist and at the start of Wednesday's game, LaVine had a couple trips when he let Young beat him down the floor. Then LaVine spent most of the night in foul trouble.
The tasks don't get any easier. White and LaVine will have to guard Indiana's Malcolm Brogdon and Victor Oladipo on Saturday, then Golden State's Steph Curry visits on Sunday.
It's unclear if veteran Garrett Temple will be able to help out defensively, or when he'll be able to play after recovering from COVID-19. Tomas Satoransky and Denzel Valentine don't figure to help much defensively, although what they lack in athleticism, they make up for by being in the right spots. Two-way player Adam Mokoka is probably the best perimeter defender on the current roster, and he's not eligible to play in every game.
There's already reason to second-guess the decision to move on from Kris Dunn and Shaq Harrison. Dunn joined the Hawks and is currently out with a knee injury. In reality, his future with the Bulls was sealed after the 2018-19 season when they brought in Satoransky to start at point guard.
• One player who did try to help on defense was White, but there isn't much he can do under the basket at 6-3. Donovan talked about the lack of help defense, and certainly one of the Bulls' worst moments was when DeAndre Hunter faked Ryan Arcidiacono in the air, then drove the baseline and dunked, while Porter, Lauri Markkanen and Chandler Hutchison stood by and watched.
"There's guys driving to the basket and we've got guys hugging their man." Donovan said Thursday. "Like, your teammate needs help. We've got to rotate. We've got to help each other.
"We've got to be more of a unified team in terms of we've got to help each other. We don't really have lockdown defenders at every single spot where we can leave a guy on an island. I've said this from the very first day, the sum has got to be greater than the parts as a team."
In Year 4 of the rebuild, the learning process continues.
•Twitter: @McGrawDHBulls