It’s difficult to write about teams that pop out of nowhere and rack up wins early in the season. The majority of those teams get victories because they haven’t quite realized that they’re not that good yet, playing with a sense of determination and defiance. But many of those teams tend to fade away as the grind of the season wears on and a lot become who we thought they were.
For a lot of people, that’s what the Chicago Bulls look like this season. We saw a team that dominated the preseason, thinking there was something there. The new pieces acquired in the offseason, namely DeMar DeRozan, Lonzo Ball, and Alex Caruso, fit seamlessly, bringing hope at the start of the regular season.
And true enough, the Bulls started the season hot, opening with a 4-0 record. They flashed a hyper-aggressive defense that made up for their lack of size while leaning heavily on their new dynamic duo of DeRozan and Zach LaVine to carry the offense.
But at the back of skeptics’ minds was one big question: was this sustainable? Are the Chicago Bulls REALLY good?
After 23 games and a 15-8 record (good for second in the East), we now know the answer: the Bulls are indeed good.
The Bulls are fourth in the league in plus-minus at +4.4. They are seventh in both offensive rating (110.4) and defensive rating (105.7) and have the fourth-best net rating (4.7). The numbers show that this iteration of the Bulls is one of the best two-way teams in the league, which is shocking considering the amount of concern there was about their defense entering the season. The offense was never an issue, with guys like LaVine and DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic in the middle. But to be one of the best defensive squads in the league? That’s a minor miracle.
The Bulls’ stingy defense starts with their backcourt of Ball and Caruso, two of the rangiest, hyper-relentless guards in the league. They fly all over the floor and get deflections, charges, and steals to trigger the Bulls’ transition offense. Teams struggle to even initiate their offense against Chicago because of Ball and Caruso’s abilities to defend multiple positions and switch everything. When Vucevic was out for a week due to health and safety protocols, the Bulls decided to go small and started Caruso at power forward.
The play of Ball and Caruso is so infectious that even LaVine and DeRozan, two players notorious for giving minimal effort on the defensive end, are communicating and doing extra work for the betterment of the team.
For those who have been waiting for the Chicago Bulls to finally wake up, this season has been one for the ages. The Bulls are doing it as a collective unit of underdogs makes it even more wonderful. There are no superstars on this team—no Big 3 or duo that’s part of the 75th Anniversary Team to lean on. This version of the Bulls consists of a bunch of players that other teams thought they didn’t need anymore.
The Lakers didn’t think Caruso was worth keeping around at fair market value. Ditto for the New Orleans Pelicans, who did everything to make Ball available ever since last season. Fans thought that DeRozan’s mid-range game wasn’t cool enough, and it didn’t help that he played in relative anonymity as a Spur over the past few seasons. But those three players came to Chicago, breathed life into the Bulls, and made them one of the best stories in the NBA this season.
Are the Bulls primed to make a deep playoff run? Even though we’re a quarter into the season, it’s still too early to tell. But is their early season success sustainable? That’s something we can be more bullish on. The Bulls have been hit by injuries already but it hasn’t derailed them at all so far.
Championships can wait—being a good team again is more than enough. After seasons of misery, it’s now time to enjoy the ride.
