What's wrong with the Bulls? 4 reasons why Bulls' comeback season has disintegrated
The NBA's top feel-good story, the resurrection of a once-proud franchise, just keeps fading away.
A few weeks ago, the Bulls were the top team in the East, Billy Donovan was coach of the year and DeMar DeRozan was an MVP candidate.
Since then, the teams goals have slid from “get to the second round” to “wait until they get all their guys back” to “avoid the play-in tournament.”
What went wrong? Well, that's a multifaceted story. Here's a list of reasons the Bulls' comeback season disintegrated while they've gone 5-11 since Feb. 26:
The schedule got tough:
This is sort of an overarching theme to the Bulls' campaign. They have gone 0-16 against the top three teams in each conference, so maybe they weren't that good to begin with.
It's true the Bulls were short-handed for most of those games, so maybe it's a shame they didn't get a chance to test themselves at full strength. At the same time, the Bulls were in pretty good shape heading into that two-game stretch when they hosted full-strength Brooklyn, then Golden State in mid-January, and got smoked both times.
That's also when things started going downhill as they lost Derrick Jones Jr., Zach LaVine and Lonzo Ball to injuries in a span of four days, then Alex Caruso the following week.
If it's any consolation, the Bulls did win a game at Boston, which could end up No. 1 in the East.
Changing lineups:
When things fall apart for NBA teams, sometimes the chemistry just goes awry. The Bulls managed to get through the COVID absences reasonably well, but a favorable schedule played a part in that.
Losing Ball led to Ayo Dosunmu stepping in at point guard and he's done a nice job, but that's still a rookie running the show. What really seemed to throw the Bulls off course was Zach LaVine moving in and out of the lineup with knee and back issues. That made a big difference since guys like Nikola Vucevic and Coby White see their usage rate rise and fall significantly depending on if LaVine plays.
All season long, the Bulls' defense was worse when the schedule gets busy. Getting the defense in sync seems to require a few practice sessions and they don't always get that.
Supporting cast sputters:
Looking at teams like Phoenix and Memphis, which haven't faltered when star players are out with injuries, what stands out the most is a solid lineup. Both teams have multiple guys who can take a lead role as a scorer and hold their own on defense.
The Bulls' supporting cast has been a little shaky. Overall, the young guys have been decent, but Dosunmu and White can be inconsistent and mistake-prone. Over the last 16 games, Dosunmu is last on the team in plus-minus, net rating and defensive rating.
That doesn't mean Dosunmu has done a bad job. He's learning on the fly while running the offense for a playoff contender. He'll keep getting better. Likewise, the Bulls are probably at their best when White brings the scoring punch off the bench, but that comes and goes.
Stops for days:
The Bulls had a top-10 defense early in the season. They did that with a trapping, scrambling style that utilized the strengths of Ball and Caruso. Obviously, the Bulls haven't kept up with those two out of the lineup and even in the big picture, the high-energy game plan is tough to sustain over a full season.
The Bulls don't figure to make many changes in the offseason, but the top of the wish list should be a player with some size who can play power forward and provide some rim protection. Maybe Patrick Williams can do some of that, but the Bulls could use someone else and let Javonte Green move from undersized power forward to versatile role player.
If you're still feeling optimistic after this rough stretch, consider this: If the Bulls win out, they could still get homecourt advantage if Boston loses twice. That's because the Bulls host the Celtics next week and could still win the season series.
Then again, Boston is 22-4 since Jan. 23, pending Wednesday's result against Miami. The Bulls have been good at home, so there's a chance to build momentum with the next five at the United Center.
At this point, though, it's hard to imagine the Bulls pulling out any sort of happy ending to this season.
Twitter: @McGrawDHSports