It will only be a matter of time before the Chicago Bulls fail to make the playoffs, blow this whole roster up, trade for draft assets, and enter rebuilding mode. But, let's not get ahead of ourselves and have some form of hope in the Zach Lavine and DeMar DeRozan-led squad. They have had four NBA Preseason games so far and the same fatal flaw has shown up. Lonzo Ball's absence still echoes throughout this squad as they struggle to set up the offense against teams like the Milwaukee Bucks, Denver Nuggets, and Toronto Raptors.
Bulls' struggles without floor generals
Lonzo Ball supposedly made the Bulls' offense complete. It allowed DeMar DeRozan and Zach Lavine to play off-ball because they had a teammate with elite court vision to find them in half-court sets. Coby White inherited the role and seems to have day-and-night performances in the small span of games.
The team has fully entrusted their guards to play make and create shots for themselves. But, this leads to a lot of broken plays which often necessitates a high IQ guard that could draw up a play on the fly while on the court. This has not been the case for the Bulls so far in the NBA Preseason.
In their close NBA Preseason loss against the Raptors, the squad with Zach Lavine as their centerpiece struggled to salvage plays when their defenders caught on. It led to a horrible-looking assist-to-turnover ratio. They notched 26 assists in this showdown while giving the ball up 22 times in the Raptors game. A lot of the time it was just the squad's poor rotation and the offense stalling too much with one player holding the ball for a little too long.
A proper facilitator is necessary when fans see that the Bulls often thrive on scoring from inside the arc. Zach Lavine and DeMar DeRozan often like scoring off of midrange jumpshots. Patrick Williams and Nikola Vucevic would also need entry passes or lobs such that they could be effective in the post. A lot of this would not bear fruit if they do not get consistent production from White or no other point guard steps up to fill the role.
Will they be able to fix it?
The Bulls have a decent front office that brought them a fairly complete squad. Their coaches are also good at developing players at a fast pace such that they can contribute at a high level despite staying for only a short amount of time. White remains to be a good example of this. But, they would need a bit more time for players like Carlik Jones, and Ayo Dosunmu to fully acclimate to being a primary ballhandler in the offense.
Getting hounded on defense and cracking when faced with tough defensive sets will spell the difference between an elite point guard and the rest. So far, there have not been a lot of them in the depth chart who have proven to be on White's level on a consistent basis. This meant that Lavine and DeRozan held the ball a little too long and melted the clock without any meaningful movement around them. It all leads to hasty shots and rushed sets that end up in a turnover or just poor shot selection.
They could bring someone in during the trade deadline. But, learning the Bulls playbook in a small amount of time and the lack of some form of team chemistry will play huge factors in their success. This might be the last straw in a ticking time bomb of a roster rebuild.
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