PG - Red alert. We're good enough to be mediocre

[Chi town]

Great D? Giannis had 38 points in that game on 65% shooting...so far a season high for him in his 4 games. Pat's D is highly over rated.

Did you watch the game?

Couldn't have. Pat forced a lot of TOs, and Giannis scored a good amount of those points off switches when Vuc and Coby were guarding him.

Exactly. Giannis scored probably like 6pts directly on Pat.

[Jvaughn]

If you want to get a kick, go look at Jalen Smith's Per 36 numbers so far. Absolutely elite. Now those fouls are gonna have to come way down, but there is no reason he shouldn't be consistently getting 20+ mpg. Kid just plays the right way, and that 3 point shot is back. Opens up so much on offense.

[weneeda2guard]

If you told me after these 4 games we would 2-2 I would be perfectly fine with that

We have to get off to better starts though. We have a accidental offense that only works if a player or 2 just shoots extremely well. We find the open guys which I like but past iso and kick out and shoot we don't provide much more offensively

Good thing is this can be said by a lot of teams in the NBA today lol

[Guru]

Williams just played great D against Giannis earlier this week

It's like Finding Dory in here.

Great D? Giannis had 38 points in that game on 65% shooting...so far a season high for him in his 4 games. Pat's D is highly over rated.

Did you not watch that game? Pat was the only one who came close to defending him. Pat played very well.

[LikeMike23]

Love the energy of that bench mob. That unit has been really strong. I'd just like one slight change...... PUT MATAS IN FOR DALEN. Terry doesn't even shoot the ball when he's out there. He has 2 FGA in 4 games. You can't tell me there's going to be some massive dropoff if Matas is in there. He can gain some minutes and experience with this high energy group.

Agree. Give Matas and Philips more minutes. Terry isn’t deserving of rotation minutes right now.

Terry is playing because Lonzo is on a minutes restriction and Billy doesn't want to play Ayo 35+ minutes.

Matas and Philips won't be taking minutes away from Terry because they play different positions. Terry is a guard, while Matas and Philips are forwards.

Terry is basically playing over Jevon Carter as a point-of-attack defender on the perimeter. He's only in the game to play defense and make hustle plays. His offense doesn't matter.

[KissedByaRose1]

Tough to take anything away of note on a night we shot 25/50 from 3. We gota trade Lavine immediately =)

[FriedRise]

We also seem to be an elite/very good defensive rebounding team. Leads the league in that so far and we're doing it without Drummond. Obviously the difference maker here is gang rebounding and the addition of Giddey who's pitching in 6 per game, although Smith has been pretty reliable on that end too.

Noise and low sample size are obviously a factor, but another funny thing here is while we've been winning games by outshooting our opponents, our offensive rating is 4th worst in the league lol. Wonder if that's because our pace is so high.

[chitownsports4ever]

Bombs away, part 2! I'm starting to think that we might become the first NBA team to be .500 while giving up 120+ points per game.

OK, I didn't actually look up that stat, but surely it has not been done ...

I said this during game one that the Pacers last year went 47-35(6th seed) and scored a 123 ppg and gave up 120 ppg .

Thats why I have been saying a 120+ is our goal in this age of superstar rest and so many teams have 1-2 guys be the whole focus on offense if you can play a style that pushes the pace and never allows those guys to rest and put much pressure on teams to keep up offensively you can win a lot of games in the current league .

Also we are not in full shape yet to play this style and wont be for another 10 games or so and thats when we should really take off.

[MGB8]

Well, the early returns are that the addition of a true PG and Jalen Smith, along with Zach being healthy and a minor amount of development by Phillips and Terry, has fully offset the loss of DeRozan, Caruso and Drummond, and also Javonte Green.

That is surprising, and possibly unfortunate, given that Detroit, while notably better, has 0 wins and 4 competitive losses against good teams, Atlanta seems worse, Toronto already has new injuries (IQ) though RJ came back and gave them a (insufficient) boost, and Miami looks older…

Orlando has cemented itself as a playoff team, IMO, and Charlotte looks improved for now (but can they really sustain)… but play-in may be inevitable if teams around the Bulls haven’t improved enough (and or others declined).

[jnrjr79]

Zach and Vooch trade value rising by the game.

Lavine is 2 ppg behind Tatum & KD in scoring on _much_ fewer shots.
Lavine: 26 ppg on 16 FGA
Tatum: 28 ppg on 20 FGA
SGA: 28 ppg on 23 FGA
Durant: 28 ppg on 18 FGA

I think he can be moved for matching salaries of useless roleplayers.

That would be selling cheap.

Zach is NOT a bad contract anymore, look at what the random dudes named Jalen just signed for.

I don't think we can declare anything yet about whether Zach is a good or bad contract. Absolutely if he sustained this level of production, he'd be a good contract. But he has to show he can stay healthy, I'd imagine, before the league is going to view him as being on a palatable deal.

It's encouraging, but it's only been four games.

[drosestruts]

Well I guess that's why the games are 48 minutes and not 24.

In the beginning we looked like we were going to be completely outclassed and I wasn't sure how we were going to be able to contend against a team starting three 7-footers - but then we began to out-hustle and out-shoot them.

Smart played terrible which worked well for us and Memphis went away from feeding a red-hot Desmond Bane.

Memphis left the window open, we still had to step up and seize the opportunity and we did just that.

Great contributions from players up and down the lineup.

Have no idea why we briefly went with a center-less lineup but it somehow didn't hurt us.

Speaking of hurt - I hope Jaylen Smith is ok and I wish Billy would make more of a fuss when our players get fouled hard. I don't think Clarke's foul on Smith was malicious, but that doesn't mean it wasn't a flagrant. Like Stacey said he grabbed him around the neck area and pulled down - you routinely see that called a flagrant these days.

Our 24 and under players are looking like a pretty nice young core:

Coby
Giddey
Ayo
Smith
Williams
Phillips
Buzelis
Terry

The Giddey-White-Ayo-Williams-Smith lineup is +25 per 100 possesions (just don't look that it's only been on the court together for 2 minutes total)

But would really like to see that lineup get run together more.

[kodo]

Bombs away, part 2! I'm starting to think that we might become the first NBA team to be .500 while giving up 120+ points per game.

OK, I didn't actually look up that stat, but surely it has not been done ...

Happened last season. Indiana 47 wins, Conf Finals, gave up 120.2 ppg.
I think it's more of a pace thing, Indiana had the 10th best net rating in the league.

[Stratmaster]

Zach and Vooch trade value rising by the game.

Lonzo too, if we are so inclined to consider offers

Yep. If AK could GM we are in good shape to build a contender with the assets from those trades.

But think about it. After 4 games the only thing we can say is " he played good defense in one game". And he is taking up 18 mil and a starting position.

I know I am hard on him. I just don't think he has shown anything and certainly hasn't earned the role he has been gifted over the past years. He is a negative on the court right now.

[meekrab]

We also seem to be an elite/very good defensive rebounding team. Leads the league in that so far and we're doing it without Drummond. Obviously the difference maker here is gang rebounding and the addition of Giddey who's pitching in 6 per game, although Smith has been pretty reliable on that end too.

Noise and low sample size are obviously a factor, but another funny thing here is while we've been winning games by outshooting our opponents, our offensive rating is 4th worst in the league lol. Wonder if that's because our pace is so high.

Defensive rebounding is a strength? Weird, seems like we're constantly giving up second chances.

Our offense probably looks terrible because Ayo and Pat are shooting 30%. Some regression to the mean would really help out there.

[FriedRise]

Bombs away, part 2! I'm starting to think that we might become the first NBA team to be .500 while giving up 120+ points per game.

OK, I didn't actually look up that stat, but surely it has not been done ...

Happened last season. Indiana 47 wins, Conf Finals, gave up 120.2 ppg.
I think it's more of a pace thing, Indiana had the 10th best net rating in the league.

The 3 ball masks a LOT of issues.

The other team has an elite rim protector? No problem, it's completely nullified because you're operating out in the perimeter anyway
The other team has a superstar? No problem, 3s are 3s, and 3s > 2s no matter who's shooting it
Your team sucks at defending? Doesn't matter, the game is won by whichever team scores the most points

Add volume and pace on top of it, and you'll be in every game as long as you don't shoot yourself in the foot by turning the ball over.

Now if you manage to add a rim protector, a superstar, or great defense to your team on top of what you already have, then you're the Boston Celtics and going to the Finals.

[kodo]

Defying all logic, the defense through 4 games has been far better than last year. Bulls are 13th on defense from 21st.
Certainly doesn't look like it since we're giving up 120 ppg.
Bulls are defending the 3 so far this year vs last year we allowed open ones to help in the paint. Allowing 30% so far.
I don't think we have any 1 on 1 stoppers like a Giannis or Wemby, but the team is full of hustling & rotating.

[Guru]

Pelicans L 29%
Bucks W 44%
Thunder L 28%
Grizzlies W 47%

[GetBuLLish]

I didn't watch the game since I refuse to buy an antenna. Box score shows a combined 96 three pointers attempted. Is that actually enjoyable to watch?

[jnrjr79]

Pelicans L 29%
Bucks W 44%
Thunder L 28%
Grizzlies W 47%

Yeah, I think the story of the season so far is 3 point % + turnovers = determining your outcome.

[burlydee]

Defying all logic, the defense through 4 games has been far better than last year. Bulls are 13th on defense from 21st.
Certainly doesn't look like it since we're giving up 120 ppg.
Bulls are defending the 3 so far this year vs last year we allowed open ones to help in the paint. Allowing 30% so far.
I don't think we have any 1 on 1 stoppers like a Giannis or Wemby, but the team is full of hustling & rotating.

Will see how it plays out. The 2nd unit is pretty good defensively and they 1st unit has been active, though not really effective. I think better teams will really attack Bulls in pick and roll. Without Ja, Grizz couldn't take advantage of horrible pick and roll D.

One of Billy's talents has been coaxing mid defense out of bad defenders. If he can keep the team around average they'll be competitive when the 3s are falling.

Ultimately I don't think Lavine/Coby is sustainable on perimeter but been surprised by Giddey's activity.