You miss next season and find out they won 50 games

[Betta Bulleavit]

The obvious answers for me would be:

1. Health
2. Player buy in
3. Player development

I think that people really discount the value of coaching at times. This team has plenty of talent contrary to popular opinion. We need to figure out a way to harness that into a productive effort night in and night out. That only happens with good coaching and the coach’s ability to get guys to buy in. If Boylen can figure out how to do that and keep guys on the court, I wouldn’t be at all surprised to see this team win 45 games or more.

Now, do I expect for all of that to materialize this year? Not really. And it’s for that reason why I’ve got them in the 35-40 win range heading into the season. But stranger things have happened.

[transplant]

Because it’s the major sport with the fewest players, the surprise teams are almost always the teams that are able to stay healthy.

Beyond that, you’d need at least 2 breakout seasons by key players. The Bulls have lots of candidates who have been mentioned by several posters.


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[murphs5150]

Coach Ditka brought Jordan back and made history.

[nomorezorro]

i think the not-quite-99th-percentile best case scenario for this season, but pretty close to it, involves:

-one of zach or lauri elevates their game to unquestioned all-star level, with the second-best player producing like a fringe all-star
-otto puts up an elite 3pt% season and is the kind of player that analytics dorks say "actually might be the most important guy on the team!"
-wcj becomes a very good defensive player who can anchor an above-average defense, slots into the offense seamlessly without needing to be a big impact player. (doesn't fumble the ball as much.)
-all the new FAs mesh together about as ideally as possible, with sato in particular taking a noticeable step forward in a starting role. (maybe the team gets him to be more aggressive?)
-at least one of denzel/hutch puts up a good season so we have at least one competent backup wing
-maybe we move dunn for another solid backup wing?
-coby slots into a relatively limited role he can excel in that allows him to be an alright contributor even though he's a rookie. probably playing more off-ball as a shooter+scorer in the second unit.

[CBS7]

We stayed relatively healthy + someone made a moderate jump (WCJ, Lavine, Lauri, or Otto)

Honestly believe if we stay healthy we would be a 40-42 win team without anyone taking a big jump.

[CBS7]

50 win teams typically have 2 allstars, so that’s a good starting point. The most likely is Zach and Otto, but I could see any of the four Zach, Otto, Lauri, WCJ being allstars. So 2 of those 4 need to pull through.

On top of that, I think Satoranski and Young have to be elite role players, which they have been in the past.

White needs to be a positive spark off the bench.

Lastly, they need to be healthy.

If those 4 things happen, this team wins 50 games.

2 allstars, 2 borderline allstars, 2 elite role players as well as a positive spark off the bench, along with good health, would propel this team to 55-60 wins and bona fide contendership.

[Michael Jackson]

Coby White wins the MVP becoming the youngest player ever to do so. Oddly he losses Rookie of the year though to Gafford. Zion demands a trade to Chicago Midseason. KD never inks his deal and signs with the Bulls midseason for the vet minimum with the Bulks as he comes back early and better than before.

[Am2626]

Say you're Robinson Crusoed on a desert island and miss all of next season. When you come back to civilization you learn that the Bulls won 50 games.

What would your top three specific guesses as to why they exceeed expectations by so much?

Mine would be, in order:

1. Satoranksy makes a big leap forward. I see a decent chance of him taking the reigns off his game a little and becoming a super efficient difference maker.

2. Lauri takes the next step and becomes far more consistent, upping his overall numbers in large part by reducing his slumps.

3. The switch flips for Zach and Lauri on defense and they dedicate themselves on that end, leading to a significant improvement in team defense.

4 (bonus): White becomes an offensive spark plug off the brnch, earning some sixth man of the year votes.

There is no way the Bulls are winning 50 games next year. Maybe the following year but not next year.

[jnrjr79]

Kawhi hates the Clippers and shockingly forces a trade to Chicago.

[Miltpalaciofanclub]

The only way that Chicago could win 45 games would include the following sequence of events:

1) Coach Boylan out-foxes the entire league by re-instituting the triple post offense. The unprecedented outfall of hitting-them-where-they- ain’t revolutinizes the game as we know it: Thaddeus Young, Lauri Markkanen, and WCJ’s off-the-ball movement stimies opponents built upon defending the perimeter and stretch fours.

Bill Cartwright smiles from his Highland Park mansion. Boylan’s perfection of Bill’s scattershot folly: WCJ revitalizes the value of the Point-Center, while Young and Markkanen transition from stretch-4’s to 3-and-destroy3rs. Defenders must either concede and easy dunk to WCJ or leave the corner 3 open. Lauri and Thaddeus average for 39% a piece.

2) There is no Kris Dunn angina. He sits on the bench and spells Zach LaVine for 8-12 minutes a game. He’s listening to Brene Brown, embracing his vulnerability, and is appreciative of his role.

3) Otto drops about 15 lbs. and starts at the 2 on offense but guards the 4. Thaddeus guards the opposing two-guard but camps out at the corner three on offense. Thaddeus cannot score at a high volume, so Boylan grinds his bones to afford greater scoring efficiency to Lauri, Zach and (to a lesser extent) Otto. There’s no point having Otto waste this energy fighting over screens to pressure the perimeter. Thaddeus’s shot goes in at a decent rate, but it’s so rusty and reliable, just looking at it gives me tetanus and hep C simultaneously. Boylan knows where his bread is buttered; Otto is the fluid option and the teams’s third offensive weapon.

4) Lauri and Zach share a daily routine of de-stressing and conditioning. Their
Morning starts with 90 minutes of bikram yoga together. Afterwards, they shoot 2 shots of organic vodka and wheatgrass while hooked up to an IV. Once a week, Pax does a shot with them.

5) Zach’s the f-ing point guard. I don’t like him a ton either, but regardless of position, you start your best players. There is zero argument against WCJ, Markkanen, Otto, Young, and LaVine being your best players. Zero.

So start them. Devil-may-care whether or not whose in what position. It’s 2019. We’re in epoch of positionless basketball.

6) Santoransky can spell Zach when he needs a break and he’s booting the ball around. Denzel comes in as well at the same time with Anthony Parker as his personal shooting coach. Santoransky as drills 40% of his 4 attempts. Dunn is fine and has a plus-minus of +2.

7) Coby White spends the entire season playing 10 minutes a game, finding the open shooter. He slowly comes around towards March and regains 8 more rotation minutes, allowing Zach to shift to the two while Otto can play some three and chill out.

8) Daniel Gafford comes in for foul relief and nothing else. He is only allowed to do three things while he’s on the court: foul the opponent at the basket, run the court, and dunk the ball. He does this for 6-7 minutes at first. He proves that he seldom misses a defensive assignment and earns an additional 3-4 minutes per game.

9) Hutchison is traded for capspace because he’s garbage, and I frankly don’t have time for his offensive development.

Arci is there in case no one can make a shot.

Shaq Harrison is there in case no one can guard anyone.

10) Bulls sign Chrisitan Wood, who comes in, and desperate to stick in this league, transforms into Moe Harkless, but less mopey. Wood’s contribution, although short-lived neutralizes the void left by Hutchison’s ineffectiveness .

11) This one goes up to 11. If you’ve made it this long, give yourself a hearty pat on the back. You’ve delved down into the Realgm Rabbit Hole of NBA fan fiction. Because the Bulls winning 50 games, let alone 45 game games is indeed fiction.

[2018C3]

As a realist I'm unable to play this game. I did however ind the rrespounces a enjoyable read.

[RakimAbdulJabar]

This actually happened to me once



** Edit - My bad, I thought you wrote 15 games, when I was cast away in 2000 that's how many they won

[Butler4thewin]

I'd be pissed because we didnt go undefeated

[RSP83]

- Boylen turns out to be an NBA caliber coach. Not necessarily an up and coming coach, just good enough. Because IMO this team has a pretty good group of talent already, the key is in the player development.

- Lavine remains the scorer that he is, but better at controlling the ball (low turnover) and making plays for other. If this happens, no doubt he's an All-Star. He's probably going to end up in the All-NBA team either 2nd or 3rd team.

- Lauri makes the big leap into a legit 25 point scorer, among the league leaders in 3-points made and percentage, grab 10 rebounds a game. Definitely All-Star.

- Porter picks up where he left off last year.

- Wendell is healthy and continue his progress. He's the 4th scoring option, and the team's anchor on defense.

- Satoransky and Thad Young maintain their career production level.

- At least 2 of Coby White/Arci/Hutch/Denzel can become steady rotation player.

If those things happen, it's not hard to see Bulls winning 50 games.

[The Senator]

Coby White wins the MVP becoming the youngest player ever to do so. Oddly he losses Rookie of the year though to Gafford. Zion demands a trade to Chicago Midseason. KD never inks his deal and signs with the Bulls midseason for the vet minimum with the Bulks as he comes back early and better than before.

Welcome to my upcoming 2K season.

[MGB8]

4 things, basically:

1) Lauri becomes a Niko-ish level defender - a non-liability who is even good against certain matchups - while also making a notable improvement in his offensive game to a fairly consistent version of where he was on his hot streak last season - something like 24 points, 11 rebounds, 3 assists in 32-33 minutes per game on high efficiency.

2) LaVine also takes another steps forward, maintaining his production from February and March (26/5/5 in 35 mpg) on elite efficiency, plus improving his defense to "non-liability, passable enough" level.

3) Otto Porter stays healthy and looks like he did with the Bulls last season.

4) WCJr comes back healthy and shows across the board incremental improvement.

If those 4 things happen, I think the Bulls could well hit 50 wins - even if the PG play is mostly Satoransky and Archi doing "glue" work, and White is basically red-shirted, Dunn a non-factor, and depth an issue.

[FriedRise]

Reality check: Dirk Nowitzki made his biggest leap into superstardom in his third season, going from 17/6 to 22/9 per game (with also a big increase in PER and TS% to elite levels). That season, he played 38 mpg and started in all 82 games. His team won 53 games with him as the leading scorer. Even with that kind of production, he didn't make his first All Star appearance until a year later when he upped his averages even more to 23/10. During these two years, he missed a total of only 6 games.

For Lauri to become this high level of a player, not only does he have to continue on his upwards trajectory production-wise, he has to stay healthy and be available to play night in/night out. He also has to become a more efficient player, since his TS% - while solid at .55 - has been identical his first two years. Part of this is of course the losing culture of a tanking team, and his numbers theoretically should improve when he plays with better players around him (he had a .62 TS% last February!). I do think he has the tools and skills to get there, but I hesitate when it comes to durability and endurance since he's missed about 26% of his NBA games due to various injuries and that weird heart/fatigue thing at the end of last season.

[bledredwine]

The final modifications (ironically, 2 more beer cans) were completed and to Apple’s surprise, the I-Time Machine was invented 20 years ahead of schedule. One of the few who could afford the technology, Michael Jordan, comes out of retirement for the second time at age 36. He wears the number 45 all season long.

Realgm ceases to exist yet and due to slight changes in trajectory, Player comparison forum posters cease to exist due to other sperm beating them to the egg, as God had originally intended.

Jordan opens NBA commissioner camps nationwide with the motto “Don’t forget: Defense is half of the game. Fair-weathered fans need the D. Even your wife needs the D.”

[SpinninHouse]

I would ask who the heck dosed me with LSD.


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[chefo]

Hitting 50 is difficult in the NBA, lots of things have to go your way for that to happen. But, getting to 45-47/8, if things break the right way, is not insane. I think that the Bulls could have won half of their games post Otto, if they didn't decide to throw the season last year.

I think last year's team post Otto, if healthy and competing for a playoff spot (read no G-leaguers and the best players playing heavy minutes) was good enough to win 35-40 games, sans the (fake?) injuries. You now have G-league scrubs replaced by two advanced stats darlings in Sato and Thad. That means that the odds are that with decent health, the Bulls should be able to have 5 actual NBA talents on the floor at all times.

I think the most important thing is for Boylen to establish a clear pecking order--and that's why Sato IMO is so important in the scheme of things--how many times last year was it Zach and Kris taking turns pounding the rock, only to pop a 19 footer? Or shoot a contested long 2 5 seconds into the clock, before Fred got fired?

Boylen needs to explain the facts of life to the supporting players--Zach and Lauri make this thing go. When the D has to react to these two destroying them, you'll get your high quality looks. Hero ball from anybody else on the roster in unacceptable and will result in a semi-permanent benching.

I've said this before, but the way you use Zach is fairly straightforward, just because of his strengths and weaknesses. I'll judge Jimbo on how he figures to use Lauri on O and on D. I've said it before--Lauri plays D like a wing and people struggle with him guarding on the outside. He also sucks at playing D like a big. So, have him guard the bigger wing and have Otto or Thad pick up the 4s.

At the same time, he's both very athletic and can pour 7 3s on you in any given game, which means that his offensive usage is only constrained by the limitations of the coach's imagination. He's guarded by a small (say 6'8 or shorter)--how about a quick downscreen by Zach or the PG where Lauri comes up to the elbow semi-open? Or using him as a 7 ft SG off-ball, with the screen being set by WCJ/Gafford? Or high-lows, rather than post ups? Or mix and matching his P&R options as opposed to just popping? A lot of things you can do depending on who's guarding him. I think Lauri can easily be a 24/10/3 player as-is, just if the coach makes a dedicated decision to have him abuse his matchup consistently and repeatedly. Apart from Durant and Freak, who can stay with Lauri all game? Dude is legit 7 feet tall and can shoot over most people.

Anyhow, I think if things break right, the Bulls can definitely win 45 games. If Lauri turns into a 25/10/4 guy and plays 80 games, yeah even 50 might be doable, though I would not bet on it.