Crashing offensive glass a goal for Bulls this season
Bulls coach Billy Donovan has been repeating his stepping stones for improvement since training camp began.
Get into the paint, shoot more free throws, shoot more 3-pointers and grab more offensive rebounds.
Their second preseason game Thursday featured some of the above. The Bulls beat Denver 133-124 in double overtime at the United Center
The Bulls scored 14 of their first 16 points in the paint, then tailed off. They finished the night hitting 14 of 38 shots from 3-point range, numbers that were padded by the two overtimes. What was interesting was Alex Caruso going 4-for-6 from 3, which would be a major development if he's a long-distance threat this season.
Offensive rebounds were an adventure. The Bulls piled up a 26-10 edge on the offensive glass, but many of those were backup center Andre Drummond grabbing his own missed shots. Drummond collected 9 of his 13 rebounds on the offensive end.
“The guys that are supposed to go to the glass and go offensive rebound have got to go,” Donovan said. “They've got to make really a great effort. I think Patrick (Williams) at times and even Torrey (Craig) last game against Milwaukee, I felt like there was a presence on the backboard.
“Then we've got our guys that have to get back. On the raising of the shot, they've got to get back to balance the floor. So we've got to find a combination of both those things. It can't be, 'Send all five guys to the backboard to go offensive rebound,' and it certainly can't be 'send all five guys back.' There's got to be a blend there.”
Williams has been sort of notoriously passive when going to the offensive glass. He's never averaged more than 1.0 per game in three seasons and was eighth on the team last year in offensive boards per 100 possessions.
Williams got blanked on the offensive boards Thursday and had a quiet game, with 2 points and 3 rebounds.
The Bulls went with the same starting lineup they used Sunday in Milwaukee, with Coby White at point guard.
Donovan said before the game he's more concerned with seeing different combinations than which players start. The first substitutions were Carter and Craig for Williams and Zach LaVine.
“I'm really happy with (White),” Donovan said. “There's a defiance to him, and I say that in the most respectful way. He's not defiant to coaching, he's not defiant to his teammates. He's defiant to figuring something out.
“He's just never going to give in, never going to quit. He's going to look at ways he can improve. So I think every aspect of his game he's gotten better.”
Donovan changed it up to start the third quarter, using the four regular starters with Ayo Dosunmu at point guard instead of White. Dosunmu had a nice stretch, grabbing 3 offensive boards early in the third, but Denver left its starters on the bench in the second half.
There weren't many free throws shot by either side when the regulars were on the court. DeRozan led the Bulls with 19 points, while LaVine added 17 and Caruso 14. White and Carter were the assist leaders with 4 each. DeRozan and LaVine combined for 7 steals.
Rookie Julian Phillips had a good finish to the fourth quarter. He hit a 3-pointer to put the Bulls up by 7, threw down a dunk over 7-footer Jay Huff, then grabbed a defensive rebound that should have sealed the win. But he missed a free throw and the Nuggets tied it when Braxton Key tipped in an alley-oop pass at the buzzer.
Denver used four of five starters from last year's NBA Finals — Nikola Jokic, Jamal Murray, Aaron Gordon and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope. Michael Porter Jr. didn't dress and was replaced by former Bull Justin Holiday. Nuggets coach Mike Malone was not at the game following the death of his father Brendan.
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