Season expectations

[DASMACKDOWN]

This season basically is in the hands of the overall 'chemistry' of Lauri, Dunn and Lavine.

Not them individually but them collectively. If the trio sucks together still, its going to derail the season anyway and the front office would turn their attention to the tankathon once again.

[chitowndish]

I think we'll squeak into the playoffs so 7/8 seed. We had to try really hard to be as bad as we were last year and we could barely pull that off. When we start playing people in their proper roles and with Lavine having a full offseason and the addition of Carter and Huch I think we start to become a .500 club. I think the goal is still to groom the young guys and start to build a positive winning culture and make a desirable landing spot for a max FA. I don't think we'll tank and I don't think we should with this many young guys on the team as it could create some bad habits so I'm fine letting the chips fall where they may and if we need to add someone look to FA to add a vet.

[Red Larrivee]

I expect to be in position to draft one of

RJ Barrett
Cam Reddish
Nasir Little
Bol Bol
Zion Williamson
Louis King


I could care less about being in the playoffs right now. Boston is getting the Kings and Grizzlies pick in this upcoming draft. Sixers have two generational talents plus Fultz who I expect to live up to his draft position as soon as next season.

We need more talent with high upside. Period.

I agree with this. Win total still means nothing right now. This team needs to develop talent and continue hitting on draft picks.

If they end up with a 15 win improvement, I won't be upset. However, that's not my expectation. This is Year 2 of a rebuild.

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[Betta Bulleavit]

Given the fact that we are playing in a conference where there are only 6 decent teams, I think that 30 wins is a baseline just on that factor. Then from there, you look at the internal improvements that I am looking for from our young core, maybe you can add an additional 5-10 wins. So 35-40 wins is my expectation although anything can happen to give or take a few wins.

Will we make the playoffs? I'd say 35% yes and 65% no. It's important to realize though that tanking is off the table for a myriad of reasons. One, it's not the thing you want to do if you plan to be a player in 2019 free agency. Two, you have to look at the landscape and realize that it's going to be just as hard to get a top three pick as it will be to actually make the playoffs. Yes...it's actually true!! And third, you don't want to keep putting young and impressionable players in an environment where you endorse losing. It stunts their development in a big way.

My gut instinct tells me that the conference will shake out something like this:
Boston
Philly
Toronto
Indiana
Washington
Milwaukee
Detroit
Miami
-----------------
Charlotte
Chicago
New York
Cleveland
Orlando
Brooklyn
Atlanta

Yes, I know that's that dreaded zone that WE ALL hate to be in because it will probably lead us to no better than a number 10 pick while missing the playoffs. But if the development is there, we could take a huge jump via free agency.

[MadGrinch]

I expect about 35 wins, with no decent small forward and overall youth of the team this is a good number for them

lauri to take the next logical step in his game and become a borderline star

zach LaVine to be essentially light skinned Jamal crawford and bulls fans to turn against him for his lack of defense , chucking and contract

for fans to turn on dunn and want payne to be the starting point guard

i expect portis to outplay carter jr. but at the same time for wendell to show he is the future at that position

i expect lopez to be dealt mid-season for an ending deal.

overall a very good season for the bulls

[TheSuzerain]

Vegas has the O/U at 28.5.

That’s about right.

[Betta Bulleavit]

Vegas has the O/U at 28.5.

That’s about right.

Eh, didn't Vegas have us at like 26 last year? Sure, we were only one game better. But that was because the obvious tank was on and we would have exceeded that by a pretty fair margin had we kept Niko. Just saying.

[dougthonus]

This season basically is in the hands of the overall 'chemistry' of Lauri, Dunn and Lavine.

Not them individually but them collectively. If the trio sucks together still, its going to derail the season anyway and the front office would turn their attention to the tankathon once again.

It's a good point, also worth noting, these guys were horrible together last year (largely due to LaVine). I think LaVine changing his game and playing efficiently is the biggest difference maker in whether the trio works this year or not, but that will be the key.

[TheSuzerain]

Vegas has the O/U at 28.5.

That’s about right.

Eh, didn't Vegas have us at like 26 last year? Sure, we were only one game better. But that was because the obvious tank was on and we would have exceeded that by a pretty fair margin had we kept Niko. Just saying.

Laughed out loud at “Sure, we were only one game better”.

[dougthonus]

Vegas has the O/U at 28.5.

That’s about right.

Only way I see us not hitting the over is injuries, though I get why the number is where it is.

[TheSuzerain]

Vegas has the O/U at 28.5.

That’s about right.

Only way I see us not hitting the over is injuries, though I get why the number is where it is.

People won’t want to hear this, but a team led by Dunn and Lavine has significant downside even without injuries.

[fleet]

30-35 seems plausible. I won't be surprised if the low end is what we see. This team is raw, and young as hell. But if the more experienced guys keep getting the most minutes, they can do better. If the kids are in charge, it'll be a long year.

[Hangtime84]

Inconsistency of Lavine trying to force his way into becoming a all-star by taking A LOT of **** shots. We should lose about 10 games in a row early into the season.

Then Lavine will stop this madness and another 8 games of losing where he trying to figure out how to play team ball. Dunn starts to assert himself. Bigs will suffer from this.

However, with less teams tanking minus (Atlanta, Knicks and Nets). NBA teams will be using this season to see what their squads can really do. Cavs don't wanna tank and will make the playoffs because they have Love.

[Betta Bulleavit]

Vegas has the O/U at 28.5.

That’s about right.

Eh, didn't Vegas have us at like 26 last year? Sure, we were only one game better. But that was because the obvious tank was on and we would have exceeded that by a pretty fair margin had we kept Niko. Just saying.

Laughed out loud at “Sure, we were only one game better”.

It was just a lead in comment to my primary point. Even though we only finished one game better, it is widely known that we were on pace to exceed that by a fair margin up until Niko was traded and the tank was blatantly implemented. Their prediction for us was based on the roster as constructed at that point, which assumed Niko for a full season.

[TheSuzerain]

Eh, didn't Vegas have us at like 26 last year? Sure, we were only one game better. But that was because the obvious tank was on and we would have exceeded that by a pretty fair margin had we kept Niko. Just saying.

Laughed out loud at “Sure, we were only one game better”.

It was just a lead in comment to my primary point. Even though we only finished one game better, it is widely known that we were on pace to exceed that by a fair margin up until Niko was traded and the tank was blatantly implemented. Their prediction for us was based on the roster as constructed at that point, which assumed Niko for a full season.

Ummmm no. That’s incorrect.

[Betta Bulleavit]

Laughed out loud at “Sure, we were only one game better”.

It was just a lead in comment to my primary point. Even though we only finished one game better, it is widely known that we were on pace to exceed that by a fair margin up until Niko was traded and the tank was blatantly implemented. Their prediction for us was based on the roster as constructed at that point, which assumed Niko for a full season.

Ummmm no. That’s incorrect.

What is your recollection of last season?

Just to add a little substance to what I am saying, the Bulls were 18-33 at the time that Niko was traded. That's basically a 29 win pace. However, they were roughly a .500 team with Niko. So if you take the 31 remaining games and project them out (without the tank and trading Niko) you figure you'd have to go with about 15 wins, which is just a shade under .500. That would put the season win total at 33 and that's not even including the games that Niko missed at the beginning of the season.

So, 7 wins better would represent a 27% overage, which is significant in Vegas terms.

[InsideInfo]

I think its really hard to predict where this team ends up record wise. If Lauri shows nice improvement, Carter plays like a top 5 rookie, Hutch turns into a player we can get solid minutes out of, and one of Dunn/Lavine takes a nice step forward....you could be talking about a team that makes a playoff push.

On the flip side of that, any injury could really derail us. We are not very deep. We could end up with very weak play at SF too.

Id guess we end up around 30 wins.

Aside from that I would expect to move Lopez....for literally anything by the deadline. Give me a second round pick at the very least. If we cant get ill be disappointed.

I wanna see our young guys play a lot.

Really hope we end up in the bottom ten and add another good player in the draft next year.

[Drellberg]

I do not favor icing out the vets to give young players PT that they have not yet earned. Tanking is intrinsically bad and did great damage last year, even as it gave the bulls a high draft pick. I favor instilling a hard, hard culture of hard, hard work and consistent play and winning going forward. I think a first-round playoff and exit would be invaluable -- a big end-of-season reward for a fast-developing roster and experience that regular season games simply cannot replicate.

For those reasons, I see a bi-modal probability distribution. If by January the bulls have a chance to make the playoffs, I think they go all in for a 6 or 7 seed. If they are struggling, I see urgency from ownership and the FO to cull the deadbeats even if that means losing more games down the stretch. Long rebuilds are for small markets. The bulls need to accelerate their rebuild, making tough mid-season decisions to advance that rebuild no matter what.

I believe that all of this should (and will) be made clear to the young players on the roster. This is your shot, fellas, to play for one of the league's up and coming teams -- the successor to the GSWs. Hunt hard or get eaten, gentlemen. You don't get time because you are young, well-paid, high draft pick. If you haven't outworked your teammates or aren't the better player, you will not see the floor. When you make mistakes we will pull you. If you bring any bad chemistry at all, we will make your life hard. Flip side -- there is a once-in-a-career opportunity here to raise your game and standing in this league.

[dougthonus]

People won’t want to hear this, but a team led by Dunn and Lavine has significant downside even without injuries.

Maybe. We'll see what happens. I'll be very disappointed if we end up anywhere near that number this year.

[weneeda2guard]

i think 5th 6th seed is the ceiling, i think we have too many good pieces to believe we will replicate 28 wins unless the coaching, teammates just dont like playing with each other, which doesnt seem to be the case.

the east is still all time trash and to start the year, and after the all star break, half the east will be mailing it in. we could potentially win 50 games based on that fact. especially if we add another starter at the 3.

dunn is one of the better starting 2 way players in the east at the pg, lavine will take another step imo with a full summer and training camp, lauri is a year better, wendall carter is a star on the rise, valentine and portis will be 2 forces coming off the bench for us, lopez is still a good piece that does the right things, they were already starting to figure it out last season and only didnt get to 40 plus wins because of intentional sabotage so they could tank. let them play, they will win. lot of teams in the east got worst, or didnt do much at all to improve. only team that really worked to take a step forward was indiana.

charlotte, '
detroit
brooklyn
knicks
orlando
cleveland
atlanta

will all be likely tanking especially after February, thats over 25 wins alone just vs those teams.