These playoff blowouts give me unwanted flashbacks to last year’s Round 1 series.
After two pretty exhilarating games that left things deadlocked at 1-1, the wheels, doors, and mirrors fell off for the Chicago Bulls. The Milwaukee Bucks didn’t just go on to win three straight and send Chicago packing, they won by an average of 23 points. The Bulls scored just 92 points per game to finish out the series, shooting 40.2 percent from the field with over 13 turnovers per game.
In hindsight, nothing foreshadowed how far this team still has to go to become postseason-relevant better than that.
With Jimmy Butler back on the floor, the Miami Heat won their first home game of the series 105-86. Meanwhile, after splitting the first two in San Francisco, the Lakers trounced the Warriors to the tune of a 127-97 victory. Golden State shot just 39.6 percent from the field and 13-44 from 3-point range. Five of the last six playoff games have now been won by at least 12 points.
While we’ve seen teams trade blowout victories in the playoffs plenty of times, it’s never a good thing when those kinds of games start to pile up. The whole point of this time of year is for the competition to feel as dramatic as possible. But I have to imagine we’re only going to experience playoff rounds like these more often in the coming years. The variance that the 3-point shot provides is naturally going to come with highs and lows. In one game, we see the Warriors shoot 21-42 from 3 and win 127-100. In the next game, we see the Warriors shoot 13-44 from 3 – while the Lakers go 15-31 – and fall on the opposite side of the scoreboard 127-97. It’s our new reality.
Do you know what still breaks my brain? That spacing and 3-point shooting are clearly deciding postseason games at an increasing rate and the Bulls’ front office still said, “who needs it!?” I want to believe that they have finally learned their lesson after finishing dead last in 3PAs per game for the two-straight season. Thus, I want to believe that they will prioritize adding multiple shooters this summer.
Unfortunately, however, I can’t believe it until I see it! Not only will they have to get extremely creative to add impact shooting with their lack of money and draft capital, but Arturas Karnisovas has to prove to us that he’s willing to accept defeat. He’s been far too stubborn with the whole continuity thing.
Here are some of the adequate 3-point shooters on the free-agent market this summer: Fred VanVleet, Gary Trent Jr., Harrison Barnes, Jerami Grant, Jordan Clarkson, PJ Washington (Restricted), Malik Beasley (club option), Seth Curry, Alec Burks (club option), and Josh Richardson. So, yes, there are some decent options out there … but how can the Bulls afford any of the top names? That’s the big question. And, while adding some of those guys near the end of the list wouldn’t be terrible, are they really moving the needle? You can view a full list of free agents on Spotrac here.
Elias Schuster is the Lead Chicago Bulls writer at Bleacher Nation. He started with BN full-time in 2019 immediately after graduating from the University of Illinois Urbana Champaign with a degree in Journalism (yes, he started with the Jim Boylen Era). Since joining, Elias has been the driving force behind Bulls and NBA content for both the site and social accounts. You can follow him on Twitter/X @Schuster_Elias.
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