Bulls Confidential Early Season Roundtable
After 11 games, the BC crew rounded up to discuss the biggest stories so far
In the spirit of the coming holiday, what about this Bulls team do we have to be thankful for? Bonus points to anyone who can come up with something besides Lauri Markkanen.
Geoffrey Clark: I value my grades deeply, so I’ll avoid the Markkanen route here.
We should be thankful Fred Hoiberg finally has a roster that can play his style to some degree. Though the team isn’t very good, there doesn’t seem to be any resistance like there was the past two years. The best part is this allows Hoiberg to grow a culture that accepts the current strategy as the norm by the time the Bulls are ready to compete again. It’s crazy, but Hoiberg has never been in a better spot here.
Michael Walton II: Bobby Portis (seemingly) surviving the Nikola Mirotic altercation and subsequent fallout. Portis is a spark-plug off the bench. He is averaging 19.3 points and 10 rebounds in just over 26 minutes per game. He has a tremendously long way to go on defense, but I believe he will ultimately be the perfect backup for Lauri Markkanen.
The only fact about the Portis-Mirotic debacle I know for sure is that Portis reached out to apologize, and Niko hasn’t accepted. The Bulls made a decent choice in not panic trading Bobby P, and for that, we should be thankful.
Hunter Kuffel: If these 11 games have proven anything, it’s that we truly don’t deserve Robin Lopez. Not only has the journeyman center kept up his dependable stream of offensive rebounds and elbow jumpers where he doesn’t actually jump, but he’s also scoring a career-high 14.4 points a game.
I wish for his sake that this wasn’t the case, but it doesn’t really make much sense to move on from Lopez right now. He’s not so good that the Bulls are winning more, and he’s exactly the kind of guy you want teaching Lauri Markkanen the right habits. Plus, the market for centers is so tepid, I’m not sure you could even get an early second-rounder in a trade for him.
The Bulls are dead last in field goal percentage and offensive rating, and they’re 29th in 3-point percentage. Which of those has the most potential to improve as the season progresses?
Kuffel: I’ll take 3-point percentage. The absence of Zach LaVine is forcing guys like Justin Holiday and Paul Zipser to play way outside themselves, taking horrid shots that will (hopefully) decrease once LaVine enters into the fold. Zipser is shooting 26.3 percent on his attempts from long range, and while he’s no sharpshooter, he’s not that bad.
Once LaVine returns and balances out the shot distribution, the Bulls should rocket up all the way to 27th in 3-point percentage.
Walton: The offensive rating has the most potential to improve. Zach LaVine is projected to return at the beginning of December and take the starting shooting guard spot away from chuck-master Justin Holiday (32.9 percent on 7.7 3-point attempts per game).
LaVine had an offensive rating of 112 last year with a career-low 21.7 usage rate. I expect his usage to be much higher in Chicago, and he should easily top his career-high of 18.9 points per game, thus boosting the Bulls offensive rating.
Clark: It’s got to be 3-point percentage. We’ve heard the Bulls are going to try and live on the long ball to try and win games until everything else gets developed. If they keep this up, that area has the best shot of seeing better results. Sometimes, you just have to fake it until you make it, which is the best thing the Bulls can do right now.
Gun to your head: How does the Mirotic debacle get resolved?
Clark: Don’t hurt me! Please! I’ll talk!
It’s clear Mirotic has lost his teammates, and Bobby Portis’ play since returning from suspension makes the Montenegrin forward look more expendable. If I’m in the front office, I’m worried not only about what friction could exist within the locker room upon his return, but how it could seep into other areas of of the organization. The Bulls have two months to decide what to do with him, but it’s not like he was doing a whole lot to help the team win before the rebuild either. He’ll be gone from Chicago before long.
Kuffel: Not well.
Walton: Easy peasy, get the Philadelphia 76ers on the phone. The Bulls have a disgruntled floor-spacing forward. The 76ers have a former No. 3 overall pick who literally just wants a chance to play. The Bulls also have a trade exception from the Jimmy Butler deal.
Am I really the only one who sees how simple a Jahlil Okafor-for-Mirotic swap would be?
Chicago is hosting the 2020 All-Star Game. Will that help or hurt Chicago as a free agent destination?
Kuffel: My first thought was: not if any of the visiting players have any conversations with Gar or Pax. Then I got really sad because there’s just no way those bozos won’t still be running things in February of 2020. Hold your loved ones close everybody.
Clark: Unless your name is DeMarcus Cousins, an All-Star game’s location has rarely been cited as a major reason for a player to land in that city. If anything, the weekend itself serves as grounds for players to convince others to join them where they’re already playing. The game won’t play a factor either way on whether someone decides to become a Bull. In 2020, Chicago merely will be the city for the stars to continue business as usual.
Walton: Depends on how much non-Bulls players are allowed to interact with Bulls management…..
In all seriousness, seeing our beautiful city can do nothing but help. Many players are averse to cold weather, which rules Chicago out. But if players are blown away with the presentation over the All-Star break, the home of the MJ statue will look like a great destination. Having a player in the actual All-Star game representing the Bulls will be much more important to the franchise’s chances of landing a marquee player.
