NEWSLETTER
The Chicago Bulls are about to receive a much-needed break!
Only ten teams in the league have already played 25+ games this season, and the Bulls are one of those teams. They have had some extremely taxing stretches over the first month and a half, including five back-to-back sets. Especially when we consider they’ve led the league in PACE nearly that entire time, I have to imagine the players are looking forward to this quiet week.
- The Bulls’ meeting with Charlotte on Friday night at the United Center will be their lone contest of the week. With the NBA Cup quarterfinals tipping off on Tuesday night, the league wants most eyes to be on the second-annual In-Season Tournament. Billy Donovan sure sounds excited about this four-day break, as he will finally have some legitimate practice time to iron out some wrinkles.
- More specifically, the head coach told Chicago Sports Network’s K.C. Johnson that he plans to work on interior passing over the next few days. Nikola Vucevic has put together a stellar season, but the Bulls have struggled at times to find him cleanly in his spots. The truth is he’s playing too well to record only 11 shot attempts in a night, which is what we’ve seen from him in three of the last four games.
- If I had to guess, the other main focus in practices this week will be the defensive side of the ball. While I’ve already expressed my doubts about this team’s ability to make meaningful progress on that end of the floor, they still need to try. Too often we see this group miss rotations or fail to match up correctly in transition. These are the kinds of mistakes that suggest a lack of focus and communication. This week will be a good opportunity to harp on the importance of being on the same page. Once again, this group isn’t going to become an above-average defensive unit suddenly. They don’t have the personnel for that. But they can at least take steps to limit the wide-open line drives and full-blown breakdowns we see on a nightly basis.
- For what it’s worth, this feels like something Lonzo Ball may be able to help more and more with. While the Bulls don’t want to put too much weight on his shoulders, he is easily the highest IQ defender on the team. He is also fresh off playing his second-most minutes of the season, which is hopefully a sign of what is to come. The more Ball is on the floor, the better this defense is bound to look.
- After seven straight games shooting 50 percent or better, the Bulls have finished two consecutive games under that threshold. Sunday afternoon’s loss was particularly ugly, as the Bulls finished shooting 40.7 percent from the field. This was the team’s third-worst shooting effort of the season. Now to the 76ers’ credit, they hold a top-12 defensive rating this season. But the real problem for Chicago over the last couple of games has been the inefficiency of Coby White. Coming off his two-game absence, White has shot just 12-36 from the field. Even if we go back before the injury, we saw some struggles from the guard. White is now at four straight games 36.8 percent shooting or worse. Oof.
- Matas Buzelis has said plenty of nice things about Paul George in the past, and he had his first chance to match up with the veteran on Sunday. While he made clear that any opponent is always Public Enemy No. 1, he sounded excited to have an interaction with George after the game:
“It was cool. But, on the court, I’m not friends with anybody,” Buzelis told reporters (h/t Julia Poe of the Chicago Tribune). “I talked to him after a little bit. He told me ‘keep pushing, you’re special, just keep moving’ … It means a lot. I try to instill a lot of his game into my workouts, and I try to emulate what he does on the court.”
- If we’re being honest, there aren’t many better players for Buzelis to look up to than George. The two may not be the Spider-Man meme, but George has had an incredibly long career around being one of the most versatile players in the game. As a multi-faceted wing, the 34-year-old has undoubtedly played a role in ushering in the era of basketball we see today. George has six All-NBA selections under his belt and four All-Defensive Team selections. If Buzelis wants to be an elite wing, trying to follow George’s two-way path is the way to go.
- Zach LaVine has set another franchise record. According to Chicago Sports Network, the guard is one of only three Bulls to have 100+ games of 30+ points. He’s scored at least 30 points in each of the past two games.
- Brandon Ingram is out indefinitely with a left ankle sprain, per ESPN. Could this be good news for Zach LaVine? That’s one less player to worry about on the trade market right now.
- Juan Soto has a new contract, and Brett talked about what it means from a Chicago Cubs perspective.
- Another Sunday, another atrocious loss for the Chicago Bears. At least they didn’t break our hearts at the last second this time, right!?
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