The Chicago Bulls are 0-5 since All-Star center Nikola Vucevic joined the team. That is a worry for fans in the Windy City. The organization made the biggest splash of any team at the deadline by trading for an All-Star, hoping to make a push for the playoffs, but they've struggled to match those expectations.
The Bulls are currently 19-28 and barely holding onto the 10th seed in the Western Conference. The Raptors and Wizards are both not far behind and are gunning for their spot in the play-in. The Bulls will need to turn things around if they hope to remain in playoff contention this season.
There are, perhaps, even bigger concerns than this season though. The Bulls gave up a lot to get Vucevic and pair him with fellow All-Star Zach LaVine. This was in part for this year but also in an attempt to build a winning core for the future. With the amount that was given up to pair these two and the lack of success thus far, should Bulls fans abandon all hope or hold onto their dreams of a bright future?
Reasons For Optimism For The Bulls
The first major reason to be optimistic about this team is that the sample has been far from representative. There were some on and off injuries, including one to their star Zach LaVine and some to role players throughout this five game stretch. They also played very good teams in three of the five games and they were competitive in two of those games. Their games against the Phoenix Suns and the Utah Jazz were both very competitive. Zach LaVine has also been playing through some sort of ankle injury and it has clearly affected his efficacy as a driver.
The offense has been very good when Nikola Vucevic is on the floor. In these five games, Vooch has a 130.9 offensive rating. That's an incredible number for a center and he creates a different dynamic for the Bulls offense. His shooting and passing makes him deadly as a roll-man in the pick and roll and the Bulls are filled with smart cutters to play off of him. Thaddeus Young and rookie Patrick Williams are excellent cutters and they have very good understanding of space. The gravity Vucevic creates as a player will really help Zach LaVine as a a scorer when he's feeling healthier.
The team is still trying to figure out chemistry as well. Little things like how players get to their spots and how to best pass to someone's shooting packet take time to learn. The fact that their offense has been this successful while they are trying get the chemistry right is very encouraging. They have also struggled to generate rim pressure because of LaVine playing injured and, when he gets healthy, another aspect of their offense will be unlocked.
Reasons For Pessimism
The major reason for pessimism has to be the record itself and some of the bad losses that have occurred. They lost to a struggling Golden State Warriors team and the Cleveland Cavaliers and neither game was particularly competitive. Even their losses to good teams showed some cracks they will have to deal with.
The defense will be a major issue for the Bulls going forward. Nikola Vucevic is a very bad defensive center and he has little versatility to make up for the deficiencies. Teams have lived at the rim against Vucevic, which leads to players like Patrick Williams and Thad Young crashing to help and open three point shots being created. This is an issue that will persist beyond this year two because Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic make for an awful defensive pair. There are so many holes to exploit against the Bulls and defense will be a constant struggle.
Defining success is important for any NBA team. For many, success is nothing short of competing for a championship. For the Bulls, they need to accept that this isn't the core to do that. They will be banking a lot on Patrick Williams and Zach LaVine continuing to improve and become championship level players. If LaVine doesn't improve and they bank on the LaVine and Vooch pair, they will not be a top-line contender in the Eastern Conference. The Bulls will likely be a team competing for the six through ten seeds in the Eastern Conference in the near future and that will have to be their calibration of success.
Opportunity Costs
To build this core of players, the Bulls had to trade a 2021 first round pick and a 2023 first round pick. These picks could become very valuable. This year's draft is chalk full of interesting talent that could really help the Bulls in the future. The 2023 draft could potentially be the double draft, meaning that the age limit could be lowered for draft entrants, meaning that high school seniors could enter the draft. They also had to trade Wendell Carter Jr, who is a young center that still has two-way potential.
Some would call this a fair price for an All-Star, but it is important to measure this opportunity cost next to the what they get for it. If Nikola Vucevic disappoints or the Bulls never achieve the success they hope to, then the opportunity cost is major. The Bulls made a huge bet on Vucevic and LaVine being a true All-Star core and the opportunity cost was high.
Conclusion
In my opinion, the Bulls should be very worried. Not simply because of the five straight losses, but also the total of what they gave up to get Vucevic. I stated in a post-deadline piece that the Bulls were major losers at the deadline because they went all in on a team that isn't going to compete for a championship. The Bulls have made the bet on an offensive center that struggles to defend at high levels and they will have to bet on outlier development from Patrick Williams and Zach LaVine if they ever wish to get past the first round of the playoffs.
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