After a busy offseason where they conducted a complete roster overhaul and surrounded franchise superstars Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic with quality talent, the Chicago Bulls are now looking to get back into the playoff mix this season. Between Lonzo Ball continually improving and expanding his game each season and LaVine's continued rise to stardom, the Bulls may possess one of the league's best backcourts.
With their versatile two-way play, athleticism, and explosiveness, they'll bring a level of excitement to the Windy City that Bulls fans haven't seen since Michael Jordan, Scottie Pippen, and Dennis Rodman were in town. Not to mention their new-look frontcourt with Vucevic, Demar DeRozan, and Patrick Williams will give the Bulls more size, mobility, and length that'll allow them to match-up nicely with some of the bigger teams in the NBA.
Despite all that they've got going for them heading into the 2021-22 NBA season, there are still a few unanswered questions that remain for Chicago. Now that they've reshuffled their roster in the hopes of making a deep playoff run this season, let's now take a look at five big questions for the Bulls in their quest to return to postseason relevance.
Chicago Bulls Questions
Can the Chicago Bulls stay healthy throughout the season?
A major injury to LaVine late last season derailed the Bulls chances of making the playoffs and forced Vucevic to carry a bigger load on both ends of the floor in his first season with the team. Now with Coby White set to be out for four months while recovering from shoulder surgery, the Bulls will be without one of their best scorers for a big portion of the year.
Aside from White, they do possess a ton of scoring on their roster between LaVine, Vucevic, DeRozan, Ball, Caruso, and Derrick Jones Jr., but all of them will have to be major contributors and stay healthy throughout the season. If the Bulls can keep their star players healthy and maintain a high level of production from these guys, then the sky's the limit for them.
On the flip side, if they do get hit with untimely injuries to their key guys, then this will prevent them from going far this season. So it call comes down to whether or not Chicago can stay healthy, and that will determine if the level of success that they'll have this year. With so much at stake for them this year, the Bulls need to make this a top priority.
Will the Chicago Bulls' new additions be a good fit?
With a ton of new additions to the team, they'll have a completely revamped roster this season and even though they got a ton of help for LaVine and Vucevic, it's still remains to be seen if they will all be able to work well together and develop strong enough team chemistry. There's no denying that LaVine and Vucevic are the stars of the team, but will the other guys allow them to lead and follow their example or will tensions rise that prevent them from making any kind of progress?
It seems like that won't be the case based on how well they've played during the preseason, but the regular season and playoffs are a completely different game. Especially since every team won't be sitting their star players for the majority of the game. So the jury is still out on whether or not this team will work well together during their 2021-22 campaign.
Will the Chicago Bulls continue to make progress under head coach Billy Donovan?
Last season the Bulls made a ton of progress under the direction of Billy Donovan and barely missed out on the play-in tournament. This season, they'll have the skill and personnel to get over the hump and make their first playoff appearance since 2017. However, they still have to prove that all the pieces will fit well together and they will be able to play a winning brand of basketball while following the direction of Donovan who has become one of the better coaches in the NBA.
It's still too soon to tell though if they'll be able to continue making progress under Donovan or miss out on the playoffs once again. In just his second season with the team, Donovan will have to step up to the plate and make the right adjustments in order for the Bulls to make it back to the playoffs this season.
Is Zach LaVine ready to lead the Chicago Bulls to the promised land?
Coming into this season with high hopes, the Chicago Bulls have fully committed to making Zach LaVine the face of their franchise and the work they put in to building a winning team around him this offseason proves exactly that. It will now be on him to come through for them in big moments and continue to make clutch plays time and again as they aim to make a deep playoff run in 2022.
So the question still remains as to whether or not he can lead this team on a surprise title run and continue to elevate his play each year. With the newly constructed Eastern Conference and juggernauts like the Nets, Bucks, Sixers, Heat, and Hawks, it may be a bit of a challenge for the Bulls to achieve this.
Plus at this point the Bulls focus should first be on making the playoffs, and then once they make it that should be their next goal. Regardless, they will need LaVine to play at an All-Star level all year long if they want to continually make strides and improvements. It will be up to their All-Star scoring guard to pave the way for them in the hopes of accomplishing this, and that'll start with leading them to their first playoff appearance in five years.
Do the Chicago Bulls possess enough talent to make it past the first round of the playoffs?
Now that they've completely rebuilt their roster and surrounded LaVine and Vucevic with a skilled and experienced supporting cast, the Bulls look ready to take the next step and re-enter the playoff mix. The only caveat is whether or not this is the right group to get the Bulls back to postseason status and if they'll have a strong enough team to get them deep into the playoffs this year.
With a ton of moving parts and so much going for Chicago, only time will tell if they can bring everything together and make it all work as the season progresses. Given all the turnover the Bulls have gone through the past few years, it's now time for them to right the ship and put an end to the heartbreak for this loyal Chicago Bulls fan base.
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