The 2025-26 Chicago Bulls will look to build off of last season's somewhat surprising finish as the 18th ranked defense (114.8 defensive rating) with most of their personnel outside of Zach LaVine returning to the roster. So with NBA head coaches being creatures of habit, I don't expect Billy Donovan to switch up a ton of what the Bulls do on defense. That being said, every season brings at least few new wrinkles, and there are a few I think we will see Donovan experiment with early.
For starters, anyone who consumes a decent amount of Bulls basketball is familiar with Donovan being unafraid to use three-guard lineups. This was true back when the Bulls had Alex Caruso routinely hounding much larger matchups on the defensive end, and is true now when the current Bulls use Ayo Dosunmu or Coby White as an occasional small forward.
Chicago's up-tempo playstyle was supercharged when they were able to have multiple ball-handlers on the floor. It appears that Donovan feels most comfortable with these small-ball units when they can hold up well enough in terms of crashing the defensive glass, which ignites the transition opportunities that the 2025 Bulls were known for.
I think the biggest wrinkle we could see this year is the occasional lineup with Josh Giddey playing at either of the forward spots. Specifically, lineups where Giddey is playing PF next to Nikola Vucevic, or even the most extreme small-ball lineup that would see Matas Buzelis at the five. These lineups would otherwise consist of some combination of Kevin Huerter, Julian Phillips, Dosunmu, Tre Jones, or Coby White. The idea would be to have Josh Giddey commit even harder to being a force on the defensive glass. He collected a career-high 8.1 rebounds per game last season, and pushing that skill further could be a major factor in his development as a player.
The lineup from the 2024-25 season the most embodies the type of lineups I expect more of next year is the Ayo Dosunmu-Zach LaVine-Julian Phillips-Josh Giddey-Nikola Vucevic lineup. This lineup had a +9.1 Net Rating, and a 73.8% defensive rebound rate that stood out among Chicago's many combinations last season. The Bulls are able to play a conservative style of defense that doesn't necessarily generate a lot of turnovers because they are able to prevent opportunities for second chance points with their focus on defensive rebounding. Next season, I believe they need to lean even harder into getting the ball up court quickly after defensive rebounds. This continues to be the simplest way to generate high percentage shot opportunities for players the organization still needs to see more from like Phillips, Dalen Terry, and Jalen Smith.
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