Chicago Bulls’ hot start defined by hustling defense
The Chicago Bulls want to be real.
Their 6-1 record, the best in the Eastern Conference, should be convincing enough on its own. Only the reigning NBA champion, the Oklahoma City Thunder (8-0), has won more games. Yet the Bulls cannot escape the specter of uncertainty projected by the past three years of mediocre, myopic and ultimately meaningless basketball.
Photos: Chicago Bulls beat Philadelphia 76ers 113-111
Winning is unreliable in Chicago. Distrust pervades every conversation surrounding the Bulls, an awkward asterisk that hangs over the rare thrill of winning six games in less than two weeks.
Even the players don’t want to get ahead. In the locker room, on the sidelines and on the podium, they repeat the same distressing reminders: the season is long, it only has seven games, they have not yet proven anything.
Here’s what’s clear about the Bulls so far. The offense exceeds its most optimistic expectations. But it’s the defense that’s truly surprising — and defines how this team wins.
By the end of last season, the Bulls had figured out how to run coach Billy Donovan’s new fast-paced offense — a style that began to flourish after the departure of Zach LaVine. A team-oriented approach fuels this season’s balanced offense, as the Bulls are fifth in the league in assist percentage (67.4%).
Coby White stays away. Matas Buzelis is still hot and cold as he goes through the typical growing pains of a sophomore season. But between Josh Giddey’s consistent 20-point performance and Nikola Vučević’s merciless 3-point shooting — who is averaging 2.1 3s per game on 48.4 percent shooting — the Bulls are putting together enough points to outscore their opponents.
Defense, on the other hand, is a strange mix of effort and execution that allows players to outperform their individual abilities overall.
This is not a strong defensive team. Donovan is the first to recognize this reality. The Bulls have a player, newcomer Isaac Okoro, who is considered a defensive stopper. The rest of the roster is primarily comprised of offensive specialists or high-energy utility players who have yet to evolve into truly elite defenders.
Despite all that, the Bulls rank 11th in defensive rating (112.5), seven spots higher than last season (115.6).
For Donovan, the difference lies in simplification.
Last season, he approached most games prepared for his players to be overwhelmed on the defensive end. The Bulls weren’t physical enough at the point of attack or at the rim. As a result, they found themselves in the passenger seat as various NBA stars tore through the defense like a bowling ball hitting a slight assortment of pins.
In response, Donovan often switched the Bulls to specific defensive sets – zone, box-and-one, triangle-and-two – to take pressure off individual players. Sometimes it worked for a game or two, but by the end of the season, opponents had enough film on these fancy counters.
“We had some trouble last year with that,” Donovan said. “Sometimes we tried to plan things too much. You don’t want to be a team that doesn’t have an identity and all you do is try to fool teams. Teams realize that after a few possessions.”
During the offseason, Donovan realized he couldn’t shield his players from the reality of their defensive situation: If they want to stop an opponent, they have to confront them head-on. No more passive possessions. No more lost games on the boards. The Bulls had to stop looking for bailouts and get tougher.
Identity is a bit of a buzzword in the NBA. But at its core, crafting a definition of a team – solid, tangible, repeatable – is the main task of the season. Winning games matters. How these games are won, that’s more important. And in the first weeks of this season, the Bulls defined how they wanted to win.
The transformation is visible on the statistical sheets. The Bulls rank third in defensive rebounds (36.1 per game). They may not be the savviest team when it comes to steals (17th, eight per game) or blocks (14th, 4.9 per game), but they make up for it with simple hustle stats: cutting down second-chance shots, contesting 45 percent of all attempts and drawing the second-most charges in the league.
“Teams hit us and we hit back,” forward Patrick Williams said. “But I think we can strike first.”
Some of the defensive success can still be interpreted as happenstance, especially from behind the 3-point arc. Opponents shot just 34.2 percent from 3 and were below their season average — by an average of seven percentage points — in the Bulls’ six victories.
Teams are scoring 54.3 points in the paint per game against the Bulls, leaving this defense vulnerable if an opponent gets hot from 3-point range. But so far this has not happened.
Okoro believes that the opponents’ inaccuracy is due to the pace of play of the Bulls, who rank ninth in the league. Teams are in bad shape by the end of games, and Okoro says exhaustion is seeping into their shooting.
“We wear out their legs to the point that when it’s time to shoot 3, they don’t have any legs,” Okoro said.
If some prefer to describe these bad evenings of filming as luck? Well, Okoro doesn’t think the Bulls should worry about that.
“Whatever you want to call it,” he said with a shrug. “Everyone has their own opinions.”
Here’s the answer to any questions about the authenticity of that 6-1 start: Does it really matter?
The Bulls win. More importantly, they are amusing. They throw down wicked reverse dunks and mug shots after nasty blocks and shoot charges with an enthusiasm usually reserved for buzzer-beating shots. This isn’t an all-star team, although the roster certainly has some burgeoning talent. Their victories rely on the type of clichéd hustle normally reserved for after-school specials.
So why leave room for pessimism? Those first six wins were real. And the foundations of this team’s success – physical defense, balanced offense, mental toughness – are certainly repeatable.
For now, these Bulls are as real as they come.
