The Bulls have seen drops in their defensive and offensive efficiency over the last 10 games, with their record reflecting that change...
The Ringer's Kirk Goldsberry updates how NBA teams are performing as of late on social media with his Efficiency Landscape chart(s), and the Bulls porous performance as of late have tanked their ratings on both sides of the ball, matching the eye test.
Over the last 10 games prior to Friday night's win in Charlotte, the Chicago Bulls were dead last in the NBA in Offensive Rating (points scored per 100 possessions) at 107. While there is no team worse than Chicago on offense over the last 10 games, several teams have actually been worse than them defensively. The Bulls rank 23rd in Defensive Rating over the last 10 games (119.1).
The worrisome thing about the Bulls recent slide is, it is tough to project just how much things will get better as the Bulls get back to full strength but at least the road win over the Hornets felt like a step in the right direction offensively. In that win, the Bulls scored 127.7 points per 100 possessions but they gave up 124.8 points per 100 possessions to the Hornets per CleaningTheGlass.com.
Winning shootouts like they did on Friday night is not a great recipe for success for the Bulls, as their up-tempo style also led them to commit several lazy turnovers. Chicago ended up finishing the night with only 12 turnovers but Charlotte was able to add +3.6 points per 100 possessions to their offensive rating on transition attacks that came off of a steal. In layman's terms: the Bulls turnovers directly led to great shots for the Hornets.
For a team that struggles to guard in the halfcourt, allowing their opponents to get out on the run so often is a death sentence for their chances of winning on a nightly basis. Zach Collins was a much better deterrent at the rim, and was a force in the paint compared to Nikola Vucevic, likely the main reason Billy Donovan stuck with Collins--and to a lesser extent Jalen Smith--down the stretch of Friday's nail-biting win. Collins finished with 16 points while missing only one of his seven shots on the evening.
Kevin Huerter and Ayo Dosunmu will eventually return to the Bulls rotation, and both players figure to continue to lift a Bulls offense that is trying to get back on track with their perimeter shooting. While Dosunmu is a solid defender, neither player is going to single-handedly turn this defense around. The Bulls--by design--have to play Josh Giddey and Coby White large minutes, which means you will struggle a bit allowing penetration on defense, and having a great rim protector seems like the only way to fix that issue.
Short of a Vucevic trade, Donovan continuing to experiment with the double bigs configuration is likely the Bulls best chance to shore up their floundering defense, but the offense will continue to improve as the squad gets healthy and stays the course on their up-tempo offense.