After an incredible start to the 2021-22 NBA season, the Chicago Bulls are slumping in a big way, losers of four games in a row and five of their last six. Four of those five losses were of the blowout variety, with three of them coming on national television.
Is the shine wearing off this Bulls team?
While there are legitimate concerns about this roster, especially with regards to a regressing defense and a struggling Nikola Vucevic, there's still reason to believe this team will turn things around and get back to title contender status.
For one, the Bulls are just a shell of themselves right now, with Zach LaVine, Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso, Javonte Green, Derrick Jones Jr. and Patrick Williams all missing time of late. The extended absence of Caruso has played a key role in the defensive slippage, and these other injuries have also mattered. Luckily, Caruso is set to return imminently.
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On the latest episode of Blue Wire's Cash Considerations podcast, Mark Karantzoulis of BlueWire's BullsHQ pod noted just how little continuity this roster has had due to COVID-19 and all these injury problems. The Bulls' closing lineup of Ball, Caruso, LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Vucevic has only played 95 minutes together, and they have crushed teams to the tune of a 12.5 net rating, per NBA.com. Chicago has only used one lineup more this season, and most of the top lineups used are in the black.
The Bulls have suffered a massive amount of health problems at the very wrong time against a brutal schedule, resulting in some truly embarrassing losses. While the nature of these losses are troublesome, it's not necessarily reflective of what this roster can really do.
It's fair to remain skeptical of Chicago's ceiling as we enter the second half of the season and get closer to the playoffs. But this Bulls group is much better than the product on the court right now, and they'll hopefully get a chance to prove that soon as guys return from injury. If they're relatively healthy when the playoffs roll around, Chicago can compete with just about anybody in an Eastern Conference that looks wide open, especially if there are moves made ahead of the trade deadline.
The Bulls are still in first place in the East with a 27-15 record, but the top teams are all jumbled together, with the sixth-seeded Philadelphia 76ers just 2.5 games back. It's going to be a frenetic race to the finish line.
Listen to this crossover episode of Cash Considerations and BullsHQ here:
Cash Considerations: A Chicago Bulls Podcast is part of the Blue Wire Podcast Network. The pod can be found on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Stitcher, Google Podcasts.
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