The Chicago Bulls’ latest work isn’t making the New York TImes’ Best Sellers List.
Titled the Tale of Two Sides of the Ball, this team has established a frustrating identity to begin the 2024-25 campaign. While the offense has been among the league’s best thanks to its uptempo pace and unselfish playmaking, the defense can make the Washington Wizards look like the Boston Celtics. We all knew this would be a problem coming into the year, but the stats still paint a sobering picture.
With a good sample size of 25 games under our belt, I went ahead and dropped some of the main offensive and defensive stats for the Chicago Bulls below. Prepare for a rollercoaster!
Chicago Bulls’ Offensive Stats
The Chicago Bulls have comfortably sat near the top of the league in points per game over the first month and a half. A big part of this has been their drastic uptick in three-point shot attempts per game. After finishing 26th in this department last season – and 30th in the two seasons prior – the Bulls are shooting the second-most attempts from downtown per game. The Boston Celtics are the only team to rank ahead of them after finishing top 2 in this category the past two seasons.
Additionally, the Bulls aren’t just trying to embrace a more modern style of play, they are succeeding in shocking fashion. The Bulls are nailing 38.4 percent of their threes, which is the fifth-highest clip in the league. Nikola Vucevic and Zach LaVine have played major roles in creating those numbers, as both are shooting upwards of 40.0 percent on at least 4.0 attempts per game this season.
Having said that, the Bulls are also doing a great job creating open looks and moving the ball along the perimeter. Everyone on this roster deserves credit for buying into an equal-opportunity system. The team’s ball movement has truly been a breath of fresh air, as they rank fourth in assists per game.
Traditional Stats
Per Game | NBA Rank | |
PTS | 119.1 | 4th |
FG% | 47.8 | 9th |
3PAs | 43.5 | 2nd |
3PT% | 38.4% | 5th |
AST | 29.4 | 4th |
FTA | 19.5 | 28th |
TOV | 15.4 | 20th |
Now, we should note that the more possessions the Bulls create, the more likely it is that we see a bump in both their points and assists. The team does lead the league in PACE this season after finishing 28th in 2023-24. Still, the Bulls are proving to be wildly efficient in these trips down the floor.
The advanced stats show Chicago’s effective field goal percentage ranking third-highest in the league, while their AST% is the sixth-highest. Overall, they currently hold the 11th-best offensive rating in the NBA!
Advanced Stats
Per Game | NBA Rank | |
PACE | 104.76 | 1st |
EFG% | 57.0 | 3rd |
AST% | 67.6 | 6th |
OREB% | 23.6 | 29th |
OFFRTG | 113.7 | 11th |
The only real problem for Chicago offensively has been their turnover troubles and offensive rebounding. Sometimes this group can play too fast for their own good and lose track of the basketball. Due to their poor defense (more on that below), teams have been able to capitalize on that pretty consistently.
As for the offensive rebounding, the lack of length and physicality along the wings have been a problem for the Bulls for the past few years. This group isn’t good at creating second-chance opportunities, and Nikola Vucevic’s lack of dexterity in the frontcourt doesn’t make adjusting for OREBs any easier.
Regardless, the Bulls have given us A LOT to like on this side of the ball so far.
Chicago Bulls’ Defensive Stats
Despite the Chicago Bulls’ offense looking strong to start the season, they are still 10-15 on the season and 10th in the Eastern Conference. That tells you just how bad things have been on the opposite end of the court.
While the Bulls are averaging the second-most points per game, they’re also giving up the (you guessed it!) second-most points per game. We’ve also seen them allow teams to shoot 48.6 percent from the field, which is the fourth-highest success rate in the league. The Bulls could at least make up for some of their leaky defense by forcing turnovers, but only the Utah Jazz force fewer nightly turnovers than they do.
It’s all bad.
Traditional Stats
Per Game | NBA Rank | |
OPP PTS | 123.0 | 29th |
OPP FG% | 48.6% | 27th |
OPP 3P% | 35.2% | 8th |
OPP 3PAs | 38.6 | 23rd |
OPP TOV | 12.4 | 29th |
STL | 7.2 | 26th |
BLK | 4.6 | 25th |
DREB | 35.4 | 4th |
The crazy thing for the Bulls is that they’ve actually limited their opponent’s looks from downtown. Teams are only shooting about 35.2 percent from three against the Bulls this season, which is the eighth-lowest. With that said, how much of that is the Bulls closing strong vs. pure luck?
If one thing is for sure, it hasn’t mattered if teams shoot a high clip against the Bulls from behind the arc or not. Opponents understand that the best thing to do against Chicago is to attack their guards off the dribble and get to the rim. The Bulls’ biggest issue is that they are allowing a league-high 57.6 points in the paint per game. They create zero pressure at the point of attack and have zero rim protection to make up for it.
Advanced Stats
Per Game | NBA Rank | |
OPP PITP | 57.6 | 30th |
OPP PTS TOV | 18.0 | 15th |
OPP 2ND CHANCE | 13.2 | 10th |
OPP PTS FB | 16.8 | 25th |
DEFRTG | 117.4 | 27th |
Hey, look on the bright side! For a Bulls team that should be focused on the future, this atrocious defense is about the only thing giving them a chance to keep their 2025 first-round pick. And I don’t expect to see significant improvement any time soon. These defensive struggles are largely a reflection of the personnel, and the Bulls simply aren’t going to see much change until they tweak the roster.