Zach Lavine, DeMar DeRozan, Lonzo Ball, stingy defense, and more have an upstart Bulls team looking dangerous with an electric 6-1 start: Bulls TSR Roundup

Zach Lavine came into the 2021-22 NBA season with one goal on his mind: win. The Chicago Bulls have done exactly that in a new era of Windy City basketball.

Gar Forman and John Paxson (better known as GarPax) ran a Chicago Bulls team that, while they were good enough to make the playoffs for a few years, never really got past the middle ground. After the Bulls decided to rebuild, GarPax made questionable moves, and the lack of results had people begging for their exit.

Last season, the Bulls decided enough was enough, and brought in Arturas Karnisovas to run the team. Billy Donovan was hired as the head coach, and things finally looked like they were turning in Chicago. The new regime committed to make changes immediately. The Bulls made their first splash move in about 4-5 years (or even longer honestly) when they traded for Nikola Vučević.

The Bulls didn’t see immediate results, but the fact that they went for such a trade at all highlighted this regime’s new attitude. That resulted in perhaps the best summer Chicago fans have had in years as they signed DeMar DeRozan, Lonzo Ball, and Alex Caruso all in one free-agency period. The last time the Bulls made signings at this level were when they brought on Carlos Boozer in 2010. Now, the Bulls are sitting at first in the eastern conference at 6-1 with quality wins.

Here are a few takeaways from their incredible start.

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Zach Lavine has a genuine ‘second’ option in DeMar DeRozan

One thing that’s haunted Bulls teams of the past in the Zach Lavine era is their over-reliance on him to produce offensively. Sure, they brought on Vučević last year, but the Bulls hardly had time to work out a solid pairing with those two before Zach Lavine was hit with the Covid-19 protocol rules last year.

Enter DeMar DeRozan. DeRozan has been a certified bucket getter since the day he was the born. DeRozan hasn’t averaged under 20 points per game since the 2012-13 NBA season, his fourth year in the league. On the San Antonio Spurs, people easily overlooked DeRozan because of the Spurs’ lack of playoff success and their overall toned down organizational style. However, he was always that guy.

So far, it looks like he’s only upped his game since coming to Chicago, averaging 25.6 points per game so far, the most since his 2016-17 campaign where he averaged 27.3 points per game, and (if the numbers persist), the second most of his career.

In clutch situations, he’s been the guy for Chicago more often than not. Against the Celtics last night, he poured in 37 points on a day when Zach Lavine was largely struggling to get it going. Against Toronto, when it looked like the Raptors were fighting back, it was DeRozan’s steady hand from the midrange game that allowed Chicago to weather the storm.

The questions about his ‘fit’ alognside Zach Lavine and Ball have largely been answered or put to bed. He’s perfect for this Bulls team. One thing that’s helped DeRozan play so well in this lineup is the way Donovan has been staggering his minutes with Lavines which allows DeRozan to run with the bench unit, and lead the offense the way he’s been used to doing his whole career.

Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso (aka the Carushow) have ignited a surprisingly stingy defense

The Bulls desperately needed playmaking this offseason. They’ve lacked a true point guard since the Derrick Rose days, and so that was going to be priority number one this offseason. It was kind of ironic this offseason considering many people believed Derrick Rose might be an option to bring back.

In the end, Chicago got their guy in Lonzo Ball, and the signing has done wonders for the Bulls in terms of playmaking. However, and perhaps an underrated aspect of Lonzo’s game, Ball’s defense might be the biggest addition he’s brought over.

Ball has been in his opponent’s grills this whole season, and it’s led to a level of defensive feistiness we didn’t expect from this Chicago Bulls team coming in. Alex Caruso has been the other key piece to this Bulls team’s defensive turnaround. For all the hype we expected from a Chicago offense fielding three potential 20 points per game scorers, the defense flew under the radar.

This possession in particular shows the grit both those players have displayed.

Guys like Javonte Green and Derrick Jones Jr. have also stepped it up for a Bulls team that ranks sixth in the NBA in defensive rating, something many didn’t foresee. Patrick Williams was meant to be the cornerstone of the Bulls defense, guarding the best guy on the court on any given night, which brings us to our next point.

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How will the Bulls fare without Patrick Williams?

The Bulls defense is mostly highlighted by guard play, with their wings and frontcourt players not really inciting fear in anyone. After all, in a matchup against Joel Embiid, you can only imagine things won’t be so easy for Vučević. His defense has already been exploited several times this year, a potential concern for the Bulls going forward.

The Bulls biggest loss this season wasn’t the one to the Knicks, but it was the one to their team when Patrick Williams went down with a wrist injury that’s expected to keep him out for 4-6 months.

How do the Bulls attempt to replace his defense production? So far, it’s been a combination of Javonte Green, Derrick Jones Jr., and even Ayo Dosunmu and Tony Bradley. However, what happens when the Bulls start going against the likes of Anthony Davis, Giannis Antetokounmpo, and Kevin Durant?

This is where the Bulls’ small-ball approach is going to come into play as what the Bulls lack in size, they make up for with the hustle and energy they give on the defensive end. They did make life miserable for Julius Randle the other day, and so there’s no saying that the Bulls are going to crumble.

Perhaps this means the Bulls keep a lookout for a potential trade to add some size, maybe like a Marvin Bagley III? Either way, the Bulls will have their hands full on any given night, and it’ll be interesting to see if the defensive effort they give currently is sustainable without their best wing defender.

Williams was meant to the Bulls x-factor this year. The fourth overall pick from a year ago looked like he was on the way to developing into a young star/solid rotational piece after an impressive showing in the Summer League, but the Bulls will have to wait now.

Sluggish starts could prove to be fatal ahead of brutal schedule for Zach Lavine and company

The Bulls are racing off to a 6-1 start, and their comeback against the Boston Celtics showed off their resiliencey, something they showed the other day in the loss to the Knicks when they almost pulled off another similar comeback.

However, this mode of playing definitely isn’t something the Bulls would like to keep up. Of course, it’s great to see that Chicago will never play themselves out of a game and keep fighting back until they’re right back in it, something we haven’t seen in so long. Going down 19 against Boston in any other year would have certainly ended in a blowout loss instead of a 14 point victory.

They do need to pick things up earlier though. The better teams in the league are not going to sit around on a 19 point lead and allow the Bulls back into the game the way the Celtics did.

The Bulls have looked solid early on, but the next two weeks of basketball are really going to show us who they are. Chicago faces a home-away series against the Philadelphia 76ers before an eight game stretch against the Brooklyn Nets, Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, Los Angeles Clippers, Los Angeles Lakers, Portland Trailblazers, Denver Nuggets, and New York Knicks with only three games at home.

After a relatively easy schedule to kick things off, the Bulls will have a chance to prove themselves against the elite competition in the NBA. Falling behind to any of those teams early could prove to be fatal.

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