Bulls preseason too-soon observations: Zach proved he's back, can be traded now

starters looked bleh, Buzelis showed things

The trend towards irrelevance continued for the Bulls as they started the 2024 preseason in Cleveland. Only a single media member¹ made the trip, and a lot of ‘observers’ and fans struggled (based on anecdotal evidence) to watch the game on the new local public-access television network².

As I said yesterday, not a lot will be learned from these games beyond who gets minutes and roles. So I will focus on that, and focus on the starting lineup of Giddey/White/LaVine/Williams/Vucevic, which produced a Billy Donovan special of a timeout after 90 seconds and falling behind 8-0.

Donovan, plus any anybody still paying attention, knows that such a lineup will be a challenge defensively. But it was this ‘new, fast-paced Giddey-up offense’ that didn’t come out well either:

“We had talked about we wanted to make sure the ball was inbounded quickly and we could get up the floor and attack and establish that. The first two possessions we were slow coming down the floor and let them get set (defensively).”

I can’t say I looked at everything as closely as Will Gottlieb at Chuggo did, so I trust his assessment that things improved.

He helped the Bulls push the pace and did well to push the tempo to get out in transition. The team had 33 fastbreak points and it was clear they made an effort to advance the ball and get into sets quickly.

Gottlieb then went into the obvious question of how to get a player better suited for this desired identity (and desire to develop³?), Ayo Dosunmu, in with the starters.

It’s an obvious answer, to me: mothball Zach LaVine! In his first game since season-ending (and trade-avoiding) surgery, he played…like he usually does. He was fine, but certainly didn’t look to make a career-changing shift in role like the Bulls are wish-casting. But he proved - hear that other teams? - that he was healthy again. No need to prove it any more!

I can’t find specific lineup data but see that Williams and LaVine didn’t play in the second half, and the Bulls were outscored -18 in Williams’s 13 minutes.

On the brighter side, at least in the preseason, it looks like Donovan is defaulting to the youth movement: the rotation minutes beyond known backups Dosunmu and Jalen Smith went to Matas Buzelis, Julian Phillips, and Dalen Terry. Neither Torrey Craig nor Jevon Carter played at all.

Buzelis actually looked ok on defense, which would be huge for his long-term prognosis in the league:

Though most of Buzelis’s offensive work came in the second half, which was pretty much all garbage time, it is still a fun watch seeing him flash some skills.

1. so, not counting Sam Smith who writes for the team website. It was just Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, who is a jerkass moron can’t be trusted to accurately disseminate information. And, so, if it’s just having someone writing down what Billy Donovan says, Sam can do that.

2. complete with a backup play-by-play announcer and weird placement of the scorebug. I suppose it’s preseason for them too.

3. Again, it’s so easy for the Bulls to tank in a way that isn’t ruining the integrity of the game or whatever they’re worried about, PLUS engage the fans searching for hope. Give Patrick Williams the ball! This was the first play of the game, reminding everyone it was literally impossible for Pat to improve his skills in the offseason as he recovered from his own foot surgery.