Tonight starts season twenty-four of bloggin’ the Bulls. Did I get any of my offseason projects done? No. I started several of them though, and they should be cool if and when they do complete. But the ongoing project is covering this team on an ongoing basis, at a time where - despite the explosion of outlets - the journalistic and independent/fan coverage is worse than ever. If you weren’t aware of my mission by now: try to cut through it all to save you time and prevent brain-poisoning via dumbass takes.
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The worst seasons I’ve covered in terms of win total, has been:
23 wins, the first year of the blog’s existence, the ‘03-’04 season. With Kirk Hinrich the first Paxson-drafted ‘baby Bull’ of that era and Scott Skiles being hired mid-way through.
22 wins apiece in ‘18-’19 and ‘19-’20 seasons, the 2nd and 3rd seasons of the Jimmy Butler trade aftermath. A majority of it coached by Jim Boylen.
I truly believe this team, this season, has that special mixture of ingredients to be the worst.
I just can’t see them performing well in any of the four factors on either side of the ball. They will struggle to win the possession battle, and be inefficient with the possessions they do have (and allow). There is talent on the roster, but it comes in forms that are either: productive but not helpful (Giddey1), productive but not enough (Jones, Smith), or counterproductive in spite of development gains (Wilson, Buzelis).
There’s also the NBA’s competition shift towards, well, competition. The recently-disposed-of regime of AKME with their revered coach Billy Donovan geared everything towards winning that night’s game, whether in terms of roster construction, playing rotation, or playing style2.
Many other teams did not do that, even when they had similar talent level to the Bulls3. And it helped the Bulls beef up their win total the past few seasons. That won’t be the case this year, with the tanking incentives totally written out in the new Lottery rules.
This is all doom and gloom…if you’re concerned about win total! In my opinion we shouldn’t be concerned, and hopefully Bryson Graham isn’t either4. It doesn’t seem like Graham is concerned over win total, between his refreshingly honest assessment of the team’s current caliber, and the developmental plan for his players, as insightfully reported on by Joel Lorenzi at The Athletic:
In their standard briefings during camp, the team presented each player with their personalized KPIs. Analytics, goals. A map of what this season should look like.
…
Things are more structured, Buzelis said. Drills are more intentional. The words “intense” and “strict” are loosely tossed around.Roles are defined. Noa Essengue, drafted last year as a 6-foot-9 ball of putty, now has obtainable, short-term tasks: chase ball handlers and weaponize his length.
Buzelis went on to say how this camp had him feeling the team would be better than people think. Reader, I assure you: if Noa Essengue plays a lot of minutes with this kind of individual developmental goal in mind, he will be a better prospect…and the Bulls will be a worse team.
But that’s good! It’s an ethos most importantly applied to Caleb Wilson, but also look to see in the early going if Essengue and Swain are getting minutes.
I think there’s a consensus miss when discussing franchises’ motivations when not applying a distinction between “trying to lose” and “not trying to win”. And then drilling down to say “not trying to win, but trying to foster key players’ development and surrounding them with functional lineups”. And then you can drill down further to say “…on offense”.
Altogether, despite my dire expectations for performance, I am extremely interested in seeing Wilson and his cohort get better, and how the front office and coaching staff helps that. And that extends to literally “seeing”, as it should be a very watchable product if things go right.
Reminder, subscribe! I’ll post a chat thread before the game with rosters/lineups for both teams.
That’s a designation in his best-case scenario, too. I can easily see Giddey having another down (and injury-riddled) season like last year. But like the win total, I don’t care if Giddey is good or not and he’s not (yet) blocking any prospect for minutes and shots.
The emblem for Donovan’s coaching style, to me, is his use of Matas Buzelis. Who first Donovan had a short leash in terms of minutes, and then even when on the court was drilled towards efficient shot profile to maximizing the team’s chances of winning. I can’t for the life of me find it now, but I swear the Bulls had the league’s best shot profile last season, just not enough shot-makers.
Bill Simmons voice: are we sure Brooklyn and Milwaukee rosters have less current-production talent than the Bulls?
If he is, there is reason to downgrade his first offseason, as while he didn’t do anything catastrophic Graham didn’t improve the team’s long-term assets.
" I can’t for the life of me find it now, but I swear the Bulls had the league’s best shot profile last season, just not enough shot-makers."
I don't remember if it was the very best but it was like top 5.