The Bulls had 2 preseason games since our last red-hot analysis post, and there are some emerging trends, if such a thing can be created in the preseason at all…
Tiago Splitter was given a pretty wonky, unbalanced roster in his first season coaching the team. Most noticeable is that he has four 22-and-under forwards (two of which need to start and play a lot) who have overlapping positives/negatives and are most likely best as 4s. It’s been a silver lining that so many preseason injuries to bigs (even Smith and Awaka have missed a game apiece, while Claxton and Collins have yet to play at all) means that we can see some center-less lineups with 2 to 3 of Wilson, Buzelis, Miller, and Essengue on the floor at the same time.
I’m not so sure these lineups are an objectively good thing for their development, and it’s definitely bad for defensive efficiency. But it is getting them all out on the court to give us lots of tape.
Miller has actually been the most consistent producer, following up a 12 point game versus the Grizzlies with a 26 point one against the Nuggets. I noticed he improved in a key area: but out the constant adjusting of his shorts that he was doing in that Grizzlies game:
I have been less impressed with the other three judging them on a curve of their size and athleticism: I’m aping Moon in the comments here: they are all showing flashes at points (even Essengue, defensively), but there’s a simple lack of production that’s raising a red flag:
It’s coach-speak to say there’s a lack of “physicality” and “force” from these Bulls, and I personally (as someone not a coach or anywhere close) don’t want to use those terms in place of “young” and “skinny”. But maybe the latter terms are excuses.
I mentioned the positive flashes, and one of those didn’t show up in the box score somehow where Wilson had a top-5-percentile-athletically chasedown block. It was following his own turnover, but I actually think Wilson’s skills have looked pretty good. I had to chuckle at Bulls Roundtable saying “Yes, Memphis sat its starters in the second half. Who cares?” when it came to Wilson putting up a zero in the first half of that game. But outside of opponent context he’s showing touch and fluidity on offense that I didn’t expect so soon:
These past two preseason games also has me thinking this will be a truly dreadful season:
Lack of interior size and rim protection. Not much perimeter defense either, skip.
Inability to win possessions - even if Claxton helps #1, he is not a good defensive rebounder. And the theory of the Bulls athletes generating turnovers remains a theory, whereas their own turnovers are very much evident.
Inconsistent three point shooting - we knew this going in, and so we will see a half like in Denver where Buddy Hield got hot1, but I don’t expect any of their high-usage players outside of Powell to be even league-average from distance.
But is this a ‘concern’? Not really. The 3rd one will be a bit problematic if it means Wilson and Buzelis are stunted a bit trying to generate offense from inside a phone booth. But the giving up a ton of points and losing a ton of games, meh…
another ‘heh’ moment of a fellow blogger - at least it means I’m reading! Was Bleacher Nation saying “is the three-point shooting problem fixed? Sort of. At the very least, the Bulls look like they can be a league-average shooting team.”
In general I think we've all learned over the years that preseason doesn't actually matter as a means of prediction or projection.
For the players it's more or less a better set of practice games to test what's been talked about during training camp. For fans it's a chance to see the team again before the hopium wears off and reality kicks us in the face.
But with all that said, it's very clear that the potential of this team this season is low. I love Caleb's confidence and his flashes of greatness, I am hopeful for the development of Swain but fear he's another Denzel or pat.
I haven't really been awed by anyone on the team - Miller has been productive but not doing anything he wasn't doing last season, matas and giddy have more or less looked as expected and nothing sticks out (yet) as considerable growth. I've been trying to key in on differences in how the offense and defense are run under Tiago - more half court offenses, more switching on defense - but ultimately we need the regular season to show us anything.
And I guess I'm not expecting much. A lot has to go right in this first years for the bulls to be in the playoffs I feel, so my expectations will remain low and hopeful. I just hope they can entertain
Checking in here, ready and reluctant to start this miserable and unfulfilling exercise again.
Let’s go Bulls.
Now, forgive me if it’s hard to muster up enthusiasm. The past five years have been malpractice, well-documented here, softened only by a stroke of luck that landed us Caleb Wilson. I don’t know what to make of their young “core,” seeing as every team is required to have one, I guess. And so I felt obligated to overdraft Wilson in my fantasy league, so as to feel a real and tangible sting of daily disappointment with his shooting percentages moving forward.
Speaking of the past five years, I think the draft has yielded Chicago one starter (Matas) and a few intriguing lotto tickets (Swain and Essengue). I’m excluding Wilson here, because the front office didn’t find him so much as the ping-pong balls did.
Norman Powell is an All-Star, and this is a fact the Bulls will remind me of constantly. I’m judging the early part of this season almost entirely on how many times I hear it during official broadcasts. I’m not mad at him, though he arrives here the way a nice lamp arrives in a house with no walls. I can appreciate the lamp, and I might even say it’s a good lamp. But at this point, I’m more concerned with the plan for the roof.
Mostly though, I’m thankful that AKME won’t spend another five years insisting the open-concept floor plan was intentional. These were the people who sold the lumber to pay for an assemblage of however-gently used couches, then tried to place them on a slab of concrete named Nikola Vučević. God bless us and him, but we’re not doing that again.
I, personally, find real comfort in that today.