Bulls '21-'22 Season Thread

[Regular Show]

 

We should start this thread with the new Bulls season starting on Wednesday (with what should be a pretty easy W against Detroit).

 

I like these 2 predictions a lot: 'Zach LaVine will make third-team All-NBA' and 'Artūras Karnišovas will draw plenty of Executive of the Year votes'. Not sure about LaVine making third-team All-NBA because it's just so freaking hard making those teams and being considered a Top-6 guard. I do think Karnisovas earns plenty of votes for the Executive of the Year Award and maybe wins it if the Bulls finish top-4 in the Eastern Conference. He's done a fantastic job running the Bulls and turning it into a viable playoff team.

 

 

Not great news that this is taking so long... I thought the investigation would conclude by the end of the offseason.

[UMFan83]

At times, I find it hard to reconcile my own enthusiasm for this team based on all the discussion here and the play we saw in the preseason with the fact that literally every person I've seen discuss the Bulls online having a negative or at best neutral opinion of what the Bulls have built. Some based on analytics and some based on just their own judgement of the team. I can understand groupthink from national NBA writers, and the lazy analysis of "har har who is going to play defense, something something plus/minus numbers, who were the Bulls bidding against for DeRozan anyways", but you'd think there would be at least a few people that are not Bulls affiliated who put together a strong argument in favor of what the Bulls have built.

 

Surely there are some out there that are making that case and I'm just not seeing them right? The strongest support I've seen basically boils down to 'the Bulls had to build some sort of decent team to keep Zach Lavine and they've at least built a team that can compete for a play-in spot'. The Ringer guys said things like 'this looks like a fantasy basketball team, not an actual basketball team' and 'it seems like a desperate play to show Zach they are trying to win'. No one mentions the bench and the ability to mix and match lineups with the versatility they have, or the small ball lineups that will cause problems for opponents. The same people that were praising the AK hire for his understanding of basketball and the way he helped build that Denver team are now saying his moves are short-sighted and don't reflect basketball in 2021. It's very frustrating, but I guess at this point there's nothing left to do but see it in action.

 

Many times when you are ahead of the curve, people don't realize it until its proven it works.

[David]

At times, I find it hard to reconcile my own enthusiasm for this team based on all the discussion here and the play we saw in the preseason with the fact that literally every person I've seen discuss the Bulls online having a negative or at best neutral opinion of what the Bulls have built. Some based on analytics and some based on just their own judgement of the team. I can understand groupthink from national NBA writers, and the lazy analysis of "har har who is going to play defense, something something plus/minus numbers, who were the Bulls bidding against for DeRozan anyways", but you'd think there would be at least a few people that are not Bulls affiliated who put together a strong argument in favor of what the Bulls have built.

 

Surely there are some out there that are making that case and I'm just not seeing them right? The strongest support I've seen basically boils down to 'the Bulls had to build some sort of decent team to keep Zach Lavine and they've at least built a team that can compete for a play-in spot'. The Ringer guys said things like 'this looks like a fantasy basketball team, not an actual basketball team' and 'it seems like a desperate play to show Zach they are trying to win'. No one mentions the bench and the ability to mix and match lineups with the versatility they have, or the small ball lineups that will cause problems for opponents. The same people that were praising the AK hire for his understanding of basketball and the way he helped build that Denver team are now saying his moves are short-sighted and don't reflect basketball in 2021. It's very frustrating, but I guess at this point there's nothing left to do but see it in action.

 

Many times when you are ahead of the curve, people don't realize it until its proven it works.

 

media is always slow on turnarounds, even when rosters are massively overhauled. almost all of it is lazy analysis. who cares?

 

they're going to be very good and very fun.

[UMFan83]

At times, I find it hard to reconcile my own enthusiasm for this team based on all the discussion here and the play we saw in the preseason with the fact that literally every person I've seen discuss the Bulls online having a negative or at best neutral opinion of what the Bulls have built. Some based on analytics and some based on just their own judgement of the team. I can understand groupthink from national NBA writers, and the lazy analysis of "har har who is going to play defense, something something plus/minus numbers, who were the Bulls bidding against for DeRozan anyways", but you'd think there would be at least a few people that are not Bulls affiliated who put together a strong argument in favor of what the Bulls have built.

 

Surely there are some out there that are making that case and I'm just not seeing them right? The strongest support I've seen basically boils down to 'the Bulls had to build some sort of decent team to keep Zach Lavine and they've at least built a team that can compete for a play-in spot'. The Ringer guys said things like 'this looks like a fantasy basketball team, not an actual basketball team' and 'it seems like a desperate play to show Zach they are trying to win'. No one mentions the bench and the ability to mix and match lineups with the versatility they have, or the small ball lineups that will cause problems for opponents. The same people that were praising the AK hire for his understanding of basketball and the way he helped build that Denver team are now saying his moves are short-sighted and don't reflect basketball in 2021. It's very frustrating, but I guess at this point there's nothing left to do but see it in action.

 

Many times when you are ahead of the curve, people don't realize it until its proven it works.

 

media is always slow on turnarounds, even when rosters are massively overhauled. who cares?

 

they're going to be very good and very fun.

 

Ultimately I don't care, but I thought I would read at least 1-2 "Actually what the Bulls are doing is smart" articles, surprised its almost all been very negative.

 

I can't wait to see it in action.

 

IIRC though, you were pretty high on last year's team too, or was that 2 years ago? :)

[UMFan83]

FWIW, this was a fairly optimistic set of predictions:

 

https://sports.yahoo.com/2021-22-nba-season-preview-predictions-picks-and-superlatives-171412440.html?ncid=twitter_yahoosport_dw14wrbb51g

 

-1 person as Donovan as his coach of the year

-2 people have AK as their executive of the year

-6/7 people have the Bulls advancing to the playoffs (beyond the play-in round). Of that 6, two have them as a 5 seed, one has them as a 6 seed, one has them as a 7 seed and two have them as an 8 seed.

-No one has them listed as their "Most Disappointing Team"

-3/7 have the Bulls as their "Most Surprising Team"

[David]

At times, I find it hard to reconcile my own enthusiasm for this team based on all the discussion here and the play we saw in the preseason with the fact that literally every person I've seen discuss the Bulls online having a negative or at best neutral opinion of what the Bulls have built. Some based on analytics and some based on just their own judgement of the team. I can understand groupthink from national NBA writers, and the lazy analysis of "har har who is going to play defense, something something plus/minus numbers, who were the Bulls bidding against for DeRozan anyways", but you'd think there would be at least a few people that are not Bulls affiliated who put together a strong argument in favor of what the Bulls have built.

 

Surely there are some out there that are making that case and I'm just not seeing them right? The strongest support I've seen basically boils down to 'the Bulls had to build some sort of decent team to keep Zach Lavine and they've at least built a team that can compete for a play-in spot'. The Ringer guys said things like 'this looks like a fantasy basketball team, not an actual basketball team' and 'it seems like a desperate play to show Zach they are trying to win'. No one mentions the bench and the ability to mix and match lineups with the versatility they have, or the small ball lineups that will cause problems for opponents. The same people that were praising the AK hire for his understanding of basketball and the way he helped build that Denver team are now saying his moves are short-sighted and don't reflect basketball in 2021. It's very frustrating, but I guess at this point there's nothing left to do but see it in action.

 

Many times when you are ahead of the curve, people don't realize it until its proven it works.

 

media is always slow on turnarounds, even when rosters are massively overhauled. who cares?

 

they're going to be very good and very fun.

 

Ultimately I don't care, but I thought I would read at least 1-2 "Actually what the Bulls are doing is smart" articles, surprised its almost all been very negative.

 

I can't wait to see it in action.

 

IIRC though, you were pretty high on last year's team too, or was that 2 years ago? :)

 

iirc i expected the team two years ago to be around .500 but i didn't fully grasp just how much of an impact jim boylen's clownery would have - and i think they had a bunch of injuries.

[UMFan83]

 

media is always slow on turnarounds, even when rosters are massively overhauled. who cares?

 

they're going to be very good and very fun.

 

Ultimately I don't care, but I thought I would read at least 1-2 "Actually what the Bulls are doing is smart" articles, surprised its almost all been very negative.

 

I can't wait to see it in action.

 

IIRC though, you were pretty high on last year's team too, or was that 2 years ago? :)

 

iirc i expected the team two years ago to be around .500 but i didn't fully grasp just how much of an impact jim boylen's clownery would have - and i think they had a bunch of injuries.

 

Boylen was the exact reason I couldn't allow myself to get excited about that team. The guy was a buffoon even without considering his punch clock shenanigans

[bukie]

There have been several discussions relating to how the Bulls preseason performance and how predictive it is of in-season performance.

 

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[NOLA]

Sorry guys. I’m pretty sure Charles Barkley just picked the Bulls as one of the best teams in the East.

[Andy]

Ultimately I don't care, but I thought I would read at least 1-2 "Actually what the Bulls are doing is smart" articles, surprised its almost all been very negative.

I've also been a bit surprised at this. Even if the Bulls as currently constructed aren't a true championship contender, what they were doing for the last 5 years clearly wasn't coming close to working either.

 

Anyway I'm looking forward to actually sort of caring about them again.

[bukie]

Read this article, and talk yourself into feeling better about the Bulls D:

 

https://ontapsportsnet.com/2021/10/20/the-chicago-bulls-defense-is-better-than-you-think/

[17 Seconds]

it's only been one half but i'm already seeing what everyone was saying about demar. the way he took that last possession away from a red hot zach was really annoying.

[Derwood]

3 pts and 1 assist from the bench so far.

 

Not great

[17 Seconds]

feed zach. way too many shots for vuc and demar

[Wilson A2000]

Obviously a much different team this year, but this team is so much better and more fun to watch

[Wilson A2000]

Sorry guys. I’m pretty sure Charles Barkley just picked the Bulls as one of the best teams in the East.

 

What teams are clearly better? Only Milwaukee and the Nets.

[SpongeWorthy]

Caruso and zo were pretty ugly in the half court but they did lots of nice things on defense

 

vooch and demar were way off but not worried about them yet

 

lavine is still king

[17 Seconds]

i wish pwill had ayo's confidence

 

very refreshing to see the bulls immediately win one of those tough back and forth games, regardless of opponent

[UMFan83]

Not gonna complain about any win. We know the shots are going to fall. The fact that the defensive stinginess and pressure carried over from the preseason is a huge positive. There’s no way they can bring that intensity all 82 games but it’s good to know that extra gear is there when the shots aren’t falling.

 

Zach is trying to learn how to be a superstar on a team with other star quality players, when to make his runs etc, but when he took over in the 4th he was amazing.

 

Ayo with a roller coaster game with several great plays and shots mixed with a few rookie nerve type errors but overall I liked the minutes he gave.

 

DeRozan was ok but I didn’t like how he took 2 crunch time possessions away from the Bulls by holding onto the ball and taking contested jump shots early in the clock. He didn’t seem like a “my possession” type of player but maybe they are necessary to keep him in the flow of the game. I did like when he stayed in with the second unit and started taking control of things offensively. Bench doesn’t have a ton of scoring until Coby comes back so it’s good to have options with so many scorers in the starting lineup.

 

That is probably the first Bulls game I’ve watched start to finish since Jimmy Butler was on the team. I enjoyed it

[ChiCubsFan]

Zach is good

[Regular Show]

Zach is good

 

Yup, great performance from LaVine and they needed it.

 

[We Got The Whole 9]

I didn't watch the game but was Pat at least playing great defense that also wouldn't show up in the box score?

[UMFan83]

I didn't watch the game but was Pat at least playing great defense that also wouldn't show up in the box score?

 

TBH he was pretty invisible. But also have to remember he's still getting back into shape due to his injury, and this is the 2nd game he has played with most of these guys.

[raw]

I didn't watch the game but was Pat at least playing great defense that also wouldn't show up in the box score?

 

TBH he was pretty invisible. But also have to remember he's still getting back into shape due to his injury, and this is the 2nd game he has played with most of these guys.

 

I only watched the 2nd half and I didn't even notice him on the floor until the end for defense. Don't think he played many minutes.

[Irrelevant Dude]

Nice to see Ayo get some meaningful minutes right off the bat.