There’s playing badly, to where you can still maybe provide a good evaluation lab for the identified future pieces of this team. But you can’t play so badly that you go down 29 in the middle of the 2nd quarter, and then when it got over 30 call in the deep bench with five and a half minutes left in the 3rd, and expect to learn much from this game.
You definitely cannot learn from that final quarter and a half, which was when Noa Essengue, Tobe Awaka, and Jaylin Sellers all got action1. I didn’t watch past the 4th quarter, and won’t be taking any stats (thanks NBA.com!) from that time after they entered.
This is to more effectively and accurately rag on the rest of ‘em, a Bulls team that was almost universally terrible.
That includes Caleb Wilson, who should lead every recap because he’s who is important. Wilson was2 inefficient-but-not-abysmal from the floor (4/10 for 10 points including 1/3 from three), but his floor game and overall production was otherwise pretty awful. 5 turnovers to 0 assists, a single rebound and a single steal and a single block. There were several open floor turnovers that just can’t happen if the Bulls (led by Wilson) are to be a menace in transition. They had so few opportunities in the first place.
But do you want to know the horrible truth? Or do you want to see a couple highlights?!?
The other young cornerstone, Matas Buzelis, came into his 3rd year all talk and at least in one game had nothing to back it up. 14 minutes, 1-6 for 3 points. It didn’t even seem like he was in the game for much of it. In his opening stint he didn’t even attempt a shot.
As a team, the main problem on offense3 in this game was that there was no paint penetration by the guards. Well, Norm Powell (Raptors legend) did a bit, and with a lot of foul-baiting in the 2nd quarter he was able to - with the help of some missed bunnies by the Raptors - keep the deficit around 20 instead of 30.
But their lead guard, Josh Giddey, was terrible. Not a total zero as he was able to several times have drives and dump-off passes to Jalen Smith (best Bull tonight?). But he seemingly had zero confidence in his floater, so later when the Raptors played the pass he was turning the ball over.
The Raptors in general were a menace defensively. Both teams were physical in that they fouled a ton, but the Raptors also forced turnovers, 14 to the Bulls forcing 3.
They may be one of the better defenses in the entire league (and one of the better overall teams: I was really impressed with Scottie Barnes’s improved offensive polish, and it’s something to hopefully look forward to from the Bulls young forwards), so I will give Giddey more chances. And it’s not like his backup, Tre Jones, did much better creating offense.
But maybe this is more than just one game of sample size, because of how bad it was4. Giddey not only played poorly, he looked demonstrably checked-out in the 2nd half (you could say less demonstrably but still checked-out in the first half, he had a goose egg and only 4 field goal attempts and a single trip to the line!) and then after the game Giddey said he’s nursing a wrist injury from preseason, though that was never on the injury report.
Maybe it was due to something Tiago Splitter (heck of a debut, coach) saw in the starting lineup this game, but a 1st quarter rotation decision to go all-bench made for a really tough watch. They were all really bad individually, but Splitter should figure they can’t succeed without at least one of Giddey, Powell, and (I suppose) Buzelis on the court. If that’s too hard to accomplish with the existing starting lineup, move Giddey to 6th man.
As it stood in this game, both point guards were terrible and it meant the shot quality on these 3 point looks were not good, and that was part of the reason the Bulls shot 3/23 from distance in the competitive portion of the game. Immanuel “gets ragged on for being paid more than Josh Giddey” Quickley hit 4 threes himself for Toronto.
In my season preview, I was suspecting the Bulls would do nothing particularly well as a team. In fairness in this game, they had a very good offensive rebound percentage of 31.8% and absurd free throw rate, and defensively did well holding Toronto to an eFG% under 50%. But their own eFG% was 33.6%, they gave up 37.2% of offensive boards, and I already mentioned the turnovers. Just imagine if the Raptors shot well!?!
Pretty hilarious that Pat Williams received a DNP-CD even under these circumstances. Splitter got that one right!
in 19 and a half minutes, again we’re not counting the end
I’m not even sure I want to spend much time on team defense this year, they are going to be abysmal. Just have to score enough to keep games competitive and provide useful information.
Also, it’s not like Giddey has earned some benefit of the doubt after sustained good play (he hasn’t), or some grace to develop as if he’s a foundational piece (he’s not).
My personal opinion: he just isn't going to be super fun to watch as long as his motor runs this quietly.