NEWSLETTER
Midway through the 2020-21 season, the Chicago Bulls sit 16-18 and 9th in the Eastern Conference. Great? Nah. Better than what we expected? Absolutely.
The team’s first-half finish proved to be especially encouraging, wrapping up February and early March with an above .500 record (9-7). They posted a three-game winning streak over that stretch and closed out their first 34 games with their second-consecutive victory over the New Orleans Pelicans (Zion who?).
The playoffs may not be a given at this point, but they sure do feel more in the realm of possibility than any of us imagined. And a big reason for that is the unexpectedly efficient offense.
After finishing with the second-worst offense in 2019-20, the Bulls are now the 15th-best squad in the league. They average the 7th-best effective field goal percentage (54.9) and average the 8th-most assist per game (26.2). In other words, Billy Donovan’s goal of converting high-percentage looks through active ball movement certainly seems to be paying off, as the team’s 16 wins are their most through 34 games since 2016.
Things have failed to look as smooth on the defensive end, but the Bulls do seem to be trending in the right direction there too. Chicago now has the 21st defensive rating in the league after fighting to stay out of the last place spot during the early part of the season. In fact, since February 1st, the team has somehow played with a Top-10 defense (they’re 10th exactly … but still!).
Opposing teams have shot league-worst against the Bulls from long-range (31.7 percent) and have scored the 6th-fewest points per game on the fastbreak (10.4) since the start of February. Also, for what it’s worth, the eye test simply suggests that the team is playing with greater effort (and effect) on that end as of late. I’m not quite sure how much we should draw from that moving forward, as the schedule over the last month or so has handed the Bulls some struggling offenses, but there is still no question this team has shown some strides on that end of the floor.
While these are positives and there is plenty of reason for continued optimism, it’s clear the Bulls still have some major work to do before they prove themselves as a legitimate threat to make the playoffs.
First-half power rankings around the league pretty much all agree that the Bulls are on the brink of being considered a Top-20 team, with some throwing them just inside or outside of that mark.
Take a look:
• The Athletic – 19th (previously 18th)
• ESPN – 20th (previously 20th)
• Bleacher Report – 20th (previously 20th)
• CBS Sports – 20th (previously 21st)
• The Ringer – 20th (previously 25th)
• NBA.com – 21st (previously 21st)
The Athletic’s Zach Harper was the kindest to Chicago, even writing that they look “steady for the first time in a long time.” I’ll take it! He also gave quite a bit of praise to rookie Patrick Williams, who he said will absolutely look like a “foundational piece” in just a couple of seasons. I’ll take it x2!
Overall, however, everyone seems to be taking the wait-and-see approach before hopping on the Bulls bandwagon, which feels more than fair. After all, the team does have the 11th-toughest remaining schedule, as well as numerous other Eastern Conference teams right next to them in the standings. We also don’t know exactly which direction this organization will choose to go at the trade deadline. While recent reports might suggest that the Bulls are interested in moving up the power rankings, it’s impossible to totally rule out the idea of them becoming “sellers” to at least some extent on March 25th.
Chicago is very much a borderline playoff/play-in tournament team right now, and the chance to prove they can be more than that will begin this Thursday in their second matchup against the first-place Philadelphia 76ers.
