Even with much-needed changes on the coaching bench and in the front office, no one expected much from the Chicago Bulls this year.
Prior to the season, many projections predicted this team to, at best, hover around 30 wins again, but to the surprise of many fans and people who cover the game, the Bulls have exhibited a level of competence that seemed unfathomable a season ago.
Yes, a 15-18 record isn’t worth jumping for joy over, in a vacuum, and sure, their easy first-half slate has buoyed them early on — they’re tied with the New York Knicks and the Houston Rockets for the second lightest strength of schedule in the NBA — but given how bleak things have looked throughout this rebuild, this is an encouraging bit of hope, even if a playoff berth still looks unlikely.
Even if Chicago’s postseason chances seem slim, this team has flashed enough skill to keep fans optimistic about making those hopes a reality this year while keeping fans excited for the future. There are plenty of examples that can support this, but for now, let’s limit it to the top three reasons for optimism in the second half of the season.
3. The Chicago Bulls’ improved, easy-to-watch offense
When watching the 2020-21 Chicago Bulls, the biggest thing that jumps out is how much more effective and telegenic their offense looks compared to the last two seasons.
Bulls writer Stephen Noh dove into this earlier this year, but in case you don’t want to click on that embedded link, here’s the Spark Notes version: under Jim Boylen, the Bulls offense often resembled someone attempting to drive a Ferrari without an engine, but new coach Billy Donovan’s emphasis on taking what the defense gives you has repaired much of those problems.
Much of that rests with Donovan’s understanding of analytics not being akin to that time Michael Bay made a bad movie about Pearl Harbor because he wanted his version of Titanic. As a result, open looks are no longer ignored simply for “not being the right shot” and it has led to more fruitful results.
Case in point: Chicago’s scoring attack has gone from being 3.9 points per 100 possessions behind the league average last year to 0.1 this year.
Is this still a flawed offense? Absolutely. Among other things, they still surrender too many giveaways (third-most turnovers per 100 possessions in the league) and don’t get to the free throw line enough (only the Suns average fewer trips to the charity stripe per 100 possessions). But they do enough things well to keep you entertained, even if it comes with the aforementioned gaffes.