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The Chicago Bulls did not get off to a good start to the 2023-24 NBA season. They opened the season at home against the Oklahoma City Thunder and actually lead, 35-33 after the first quarter. It was all downhill from there, however. They managed only 69 points the rest of the game and ended up falling, 124-104 to start the season 0-1. Turmoil was evident during the game when Bulls head coach Billy Donovan and Nikola Vucevic got into a heated exchange while on the bench. Not only that, following the game, Bulls players asked for a players only locker room meeting in which Donovan was not present. Following the game, DeMar DeRozan gave his thoughts on the Bulls loss as per Joe Crowley of The Chicago Sun-Times.
DeMar DeRozan called last night embarrassing and how they respond to it will come tomorrow night against Toronto. Also admitted that Vooch was right – they should have taken advantage of his matchup more than they did.
— Joe Cowley (@JCowleyHoops) October 26, 2023
It appeared as if part of the issue stemmed from Nikola Vucevic believing he should have been more involved in the offense. Vucevic finished with only eight shots while converting on five of those attempts. He had 11 points and nine rebounds. DeMar DeRozan finished with a team-high 20 points for the Bulls while shooting 9-20 from the field.
The Bulls finished in 10th place in the Eastern Conference standings last season. They ended up winning their opening round game of the play-in tournament against the Toronto Raptors before falling to the Miami Heat.
While trade rumors surrounded the Bulls during the offseason, they opted to bring their main group back with a few key additions to the bench. They're a team that can easily make the playoffs in the East and just as easily fall out and into a lottery finish.
