It hasn’t been the best time for Chicago sports fans.
Bears: Rebuilding. Losing record.
Cubs: Rebuilding. Losing record.
Blackhawks: Rebuilding. Losing record.
White Sox: Recalibrating. 500 record.
Bulls?
It begins Wednesday in Miami with more hope, for now, that promise, but enthusiasm and, as DeMar DeRozan notes, “Everyone is 0-0 now.”
Right, so why not them?
“The goal is to try to take another step as a group,” says Bulls coach Billy Donovan. “The question is how do we take another step and get better. There was on lot on the plates of Zach (LaVine) and DeMar last year, but that’s going to only take us so far. We’ve got to do other things to take a step forward.”
Here’s a Bulls primer for the 2022-23 NBA season.
Who plays point guard?
Incumbent Lonzo Ball had a second knee surgery this year last month and figures to be unable to play for awhile. The team issued a timetable of four-to-six weeks for reevaluation, though no one expects Ball playing this calendar year. Later in the season? Who knows. Ball’s father, LaVar, just said on a podcast this week they are confident the unexplained problem was a nerve issue and was addressed. But dad suggested caution: "Like I explained to him (Lonzo), ‘Hey, don’t let these guys try to convince you to come back in four-to-six weeks. Slow down, do it your way. Until you come back healthy as hell. Because there’s a lot of people that stay out for a long time.” Ball with two years on his Bulls contract after this season also has talked about being 100 percent before he returns. It’s a reasonable desire for himself and the Bulls considering he only turns 25 later this month.
Second year pro from the University of Illinois, Ayo Dosunmu, wins the opportunity to start at point guard to be relieved by both new acquisition Goran Dragić and Alex Caruso. "We’ve got great options, me, Ayo, Goran,” said Caruso. “Three different players that bring three different elements to the position can benefit the team. I think we’re in good hands for the time being. I’ve always been team first trying to win games. If that’s me starting basketball games then that’s what we’ll do. If that’s me coming off the bench, that’s fine, too. I’ve always been I’d rather finish games than start games.” That should be what occurs for his defensive acumen.
What about power forward and Patrick Williams?
The Great Draft Hope from 2020 remains in the starting lineup for now, Donovan confirmed Tuesday before the team departed for Miami. It was looking like fleet-footed Javonte Green might start to inject more pace into the starting lineup with Ball missing. And also give Williams more offensive opportunities with the reserves. Donovan said both will play during the game with starters and reserves. Though if it’s about putting a player in a position to succeed instead of a position to please maybe it will inevitably be best to start the defensive oriented, hustling Green, who has developed a nice corner three-point shot. And then give Williams freedom with the second unit unencumbered from trying to wrestle shots from DeRozan and LaVine.
“Most of Javonte’s career has been spent on the back end of the bench where he has come in where maybe the game was out of hand or the game wasn’t going well and somebody injected him in there and got his energy into the game,” Donovan said. “With the way things fell last year with our injuries, in particular to Patrick, it opened up an opportunity for him to start (in preseason).”
Williams, ever the good teammate who even came off the bench in college, has seemed more comfortable in preseason leading a second unit along with defense specialists Caruso and Andre Drummond. The Bulls hope its something most of the critics overlooked with betting services and media preseason projections for the team mostly between 35 and 43 wins and a finish in the play-in tournament of the Nos. 7 through 10 teams in the Eastern Conference.
Is Zach back?
Well, he says he is, though perhaps for caution the Bulls listed LaVine questionable for Wednesday’s game with left knee management. LaVine admittedly eased his way through preseason, but just this weekend assured reporters he was ready. ‘‘I think that’s been the main thing, not having any aches and pains and being able to go out there and really play without any limitations in my own mind,’’ LaVine said. ‘‘Like, ‘OK, I can’t go left.’ Or, ‘I might not be able to dunk on this play.’ You’re not supposed to be thinking that way when you play basketball. I dealt with that a lot last year.’’ The Bulls listed Caruso probable with a left calf contusion. The way he plays and practices, he’s likely to be on the injury report for all 82 games. Miami listed Victor Oladipo out with tendinitis.
Is the Center going to fold? Or blossom again?
This is the final season of Nikola Vučević’s contract. He was the tip of the spear in the new management’s redevelopment attack, a major trade with the Orlando Magic. Playing with high scorers LaVine and DeRozan and thus a third offensive option and ballhandler, Vučević has not been able to duplicate his high scoring All-Star seasons with Orlando. So last season was often stops and starts and reassessments. His production and percentages suffered, thought he remained a strong double-double producer. In the brief preseason look, he has shot the ball much better, 50 percent on threes and almost 70 percent overall. Vučević appears to be a major part of Donovan’s offensive tweak to what he calls a more “random” game by having Vučević randomly in different spaces in the floor, more in the post and on the wings to open the middle more, as well.
“Last year, I didn’t shoot the ball as well as I usually do,” agreed Vučević. “It was a year of adjustment. This year I have a different approach. People know my value and what I can bring to the table and what I can do. I was too passive early (last) season, too much on the perimeter and settling a little bit, trying to get everyone involved. New teammates I never played with before, not being the main guy with the ball going through me took me time to adjust. It happens when guys switch teams. Now we’ve had time to work together. It’s not too big a deal to fail, but how you come back up.”
So who are these Bulls?
“If you look at last season in totality,” said Donovan, “we made a jump from (my) first year to the second year. But if you put a magnifying glass up to after the All-Star break (last season) against some of the better teams we were really dominated. How do we get better in those areas against the elite teams (2-21 combined against the top four teams in each conference and 4-1 loss in playoffs first round)? If you look at the top four teams in the East and West, all those teams advanced to the second round. Get better; that’s what you want to do. How do we raise our level of play?
“I thought times when Lonzo was there our pace of play, our ball movement was really good, but I thought as the season went on we maybe got a little more one dimensional,” Donovan said. “We became more predictable. Our focus going forward has to be on these other things.”
So the Bulls get a good look to start in Miami against a team with former Bull Jimmy Butler that mostly dominated the Bulls last season. And then after a game in Washington on Friday to make the Bulls the guest in a pair of season openers, the Bulls return home Saturday to face upstart Cleveland with Donovan Mitchell and then highly regarded Boston, another team considered among the elite in the Eastern Conference.
It’s a bucket-of-water-in-the-face wakeup to the new season.
“We had a hell of a learning experience versus top teams last year,” acknowledged DeRozan. “Now we’ve got a fresh new start. I don't want no cakewalk. I don't want nothing easy. Playing against the best, it brings out the best in you.”
Time for Chicago to see what they’ve got and if the Bulls are the city’s hope for now.
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