Chicago Bulls: Time For The Youth Movement?
Increased ball-movement and a commitment to 3-pt shots made the Bulls look like a different team, but how long will this last?
If you took a shot for every time someone from the Chicago Bulls organization mentioned their “shot profile,” you would be quite drunk right now. It was their common mantra, an “improved shot profile” and playing with pace would fix issues with a Bulls offense that felt more doomed because of the personnel.
But it was commendable, because if you weren’t going to change the roster, you simply had to do something to juice an offense that is among the worst in the NBA despite having three All-Star caliber offensive talents.
But the problem was — and is — it felt like all talk.
The Bulls only major additions in an admittedly limited in terms of options offseason, was adding veterans Torrey Craig and Jevon Carter.
These two players are great, defense-first players that are willing to take open 3-pt shots but hardly the aggressive type of shooters you need to change your team-wide shot profile.
Thus Chicago has predictably had a rough start to the season, with last year’s great defense taking major steps back and the shot profile seeming mostly the same.
Per Dunks and Threes, which adjusts for Strength of Schedule, the Bulls are 26th in Offensive Rating (111.2) and 18th in Defensive Rating (114.8) through December 3rd.
Their shot profile is pretty atrocious for modern basketball. The 2023–24 Chicago Bulls are a midrange jump-shooting team that does not get to the free throw line or take enough 3-pointers to compensate for their lack of inside scoring.
There was simply no hope for the future of the Bulls. But they legitimately feel very, very different after their last two games.
Bulls fans have long begged the team to get back to focusing on player development instead of chasing short-term success. And despite resulting in two wins, the last two games of Bulls basketball feels like a commitment to the youth movement.
It took awhile to get here, but the combination of Zach LaVine’s trade request and DeMar DeRozan’s expiring contract have appeared to result in the Bulls young players finally having the runway to work through their mistakes in what could be a major turning point for the franchise.
While Coby White’s 31-point performance against the Pelicans on Saturday — including eight made 3-pointers — will rightfully get the headlines, the renewed energy Patrick Williams and Ayo Dosunmu are playing with can not be ignored.
Patrick Williams last two games: 13 PPG, 3 RPG, 1.5 APG, 2.0 SPG, 1.5 BPG
Ayo Dosunmu last two games: 14.5 PPG, 3 RPG, 4.5 APG, 2.5 SPG, 76.5% eFG
No one — or at least no reasonable Bulls fan — is coming out of this positive stretch expecting Coby White, Patrick Williams or Ayo Dosunmu to develop into stars one day. But they are very clearly young players worth investing in further in terms of playing time.
But alas, I have no problem with any Bulls fan “dreaming big” with the future of these young talents.
Many of the same people who will tell you to “slow down” with projections also had similar doubts with Lauri Markkanen or Wendell Carter Jr. ever becoming impact players one day.
The moral of the story is: player development isn’t linear.
For a team like the Chicago Bulls that has already sacrificed draft capital for veterans, using the 2023–24 season to allow their age-25 and younger players to develop ahead of schedule is likely their only way out of NBA purgatory.
