When DeMar DeRozan, Lonzo Ball, and Alex Caruso signed with the Chicago Bulls in the summer, everyone already tagged them as the next up-and-coming team. Fans know about DeRozan and what he can do on the floor. He's a midrange assassin who has developed his passing game during his stint with the San Antonio Spurs. The same goes for Lonzo Ball, who has created a reputation as a terrific playmaker and active defender. Alex Caruso, too, has wowed NBA fans for his tremendous intelligence and sneaky athleticism.

Many expected Bulls to be good, but not this good

Bulls, NBA schedule release

“Up-and-coming team” is the operative phrase here. This means that there's a cap placed on the Bulls squad amid their offseason haul — and for a good reason. After all, not too long ago, the Bulls organization managed to arrange a big three featuring Dwyane Wade, Jimmy Butler, and Rajon Rondo.

The trio was hyped up. The narrative wasn't just Wade is coming home, but he was going to bring back the title to Chicago. Unfortunately, things didn't pan out as expected. They made the playoffs as the eighth seed and got booted out in the first round. The trio broke up after just one season.

This is still fresh from fans' memories. Some teams are just meant to be good on paper. There was this lingering fear that this new team might suffer the same fate as the previous one. And so a good move is to temper their expectations. But at this point in the season, safe to say that this current roster is better than the Hall of Fame trio in the 2016-17 season.

One reason for this is that trust between each and every one of them. When there's more than one All-Star in a team, there's always that tendency to be overzealous in giving your fellow All-Star a bigger piece of the pie. On the other hand, some want to own the entire pie. We don't see this with the Bulls. There are nights when it's DeMar DeRozan is cooking. Other nights it's Zach LaVine lighting it up. Nikola Vucevic, too, isn't too far behind.

Chi-town Glue

DeMar DeRozan, Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso, Zach LaVine, Bulls

Perhaps the secret behind this is Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso. Amid Ball's massive improvement in his jump shot, let's not forget that he's a point guard by heart. It's inherent in him to keep everyone involved, keep his All-Stars going. Caruso, too, seems to have brought in learnings from his stint in LA. He knows what it takes to win the title. And he's passing on these lessons to his new teammates. So far, we can say that he's been teaching them well.

An argument can be thrown that the reason for the Bulls' strong start is that they faced relatively weak teams. In their first seven games where they won six and lost one, only three teams made the playoffs last year. Their only loss was a scrappy one against the New York Knicks. There's a lot of truth in this. The Bulls will have a tougher schedule ahead of them. They'll face the Philadelphia 76ers twice, followed by the Brooklyn Nets, Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, LA Clippers, and the LA Lakers.

As such, this may be the first real test for the Billy Donovan-coached squad. It'll be a tough assignment. If they do squeeze out more victories than losses, then we can definitely say they're the real deal. If not, then everything can still be charged to experience — something that will be of value as they push thru the long season.