Copyright Chicago Tribune
It’s only Halloween, but lapsed fans of the Chicago Bulls already have been forced to make a season-altering decision. Is it time to get giddy and jump in? Or wait to see if the Bulls’ early success is just a mirage? The answer is complicated, like anything else in life that involves a balancing act between hope and recent history. Few expected the Bulls to get off to a 4-0 start, as they did Wednesday in a convincing win over the Sacramento Kings. Coming off a sleep-inducing offseason, the loss of Coby White to a calf injury and a general lack of trust in the Artūras Karnišovas era, expectations of a Bulls run this season were lower than the potholes on Lower Wacker Drive. But here they are, ready or not, waiting for your undivided attention. The next two weeks will pose significant hurdles, starting Friday at the United Center with the New York Knicks coming to town for an NBA Cup matchup, with or without Spike Lee. That will be followed by a Sunday night rematch at Madison Square Garden and four games against the Philadelphia 76ers, Milwaukee Bucks, Cleveland Cavaliers and San Antonio Spurs. The bubble could burst quickly, but there’s no question the team’s confidence is climbing with so many contributors to the early success. Karnišovas, the executive vice president of basketball operations, never has played the game of trying to be liked — or even heard — so it’s easy for fans and the media to scoff at his long-term plans, which merited an extension from President and CEO Michael Reinsdorf. It’s not Karnišovas’ fault the White Sox and Blackhawks are also in the early parts of long rebuilds, but there’s only so much losing a town can take before it hits the snooze button on a new season, no matter the team. The benefit of the doubt Theo Epstein received during his Cubs rebuild in the 2010s didn’t extend to any other Chicago sports executive, and we’ve yet to see any other local rebuild really turn the corner in the 2020s. But the idea the Bulls can be the first ones to dig themselves out is suddenly viable, thanks mostly to a bench that has played so well, coach Billy Donovan can take away minutes from a starter in any given game, including to close games, without a real drop-off. At least six players have scored in double figures in every game, and eight did so in Monday’s win over the Atlanta Hawks. The bench’s 48-point scoring average over the first four games is the fourth-best start in franchise history and the highest since 2005-06 (49.3 points), when Luol Deng and Ben Gordon started out as reserves but played significant minutes. Ayo Dosunmu and Kevin Huerter are the linchpins of the second unit, but big men Patrick Williams and Jalen Smith also have made big shots, earning more opportunities in crunch time. Everyone in the nine- or 10-man rotation can shoot 3-pointers, so if one or two are having an off night, someone else can pick them up. Stickier defense, with an emphasis on contesting 3s, has been another contributing factor. The Bulls hope to wear down teams and take their chances at the end of games. Opposing big men Kristaps Porziņģis of the Hawks and Domantas Sabonis of the Kings got their points early, then faded down the stretch after a long night of running around. Bulls center Nikola Vučević, having a renaissance start, has kept up with the pace and been a consistent double-double producer. And with no specific closer, like DeMar DeRozan or Zach LaVine in the past, anyone on the floor at the end now can be the man, keeping defenses guessing. Can’t wait to see the first game that comes down to the final shot to see who gets the call. Donovan said he’s going by “gut” with his rotations, a byproduct of coaching a young team with no superstar. “You have to do that from a certain standpoint,” he said Wednesday. “A lot of it is when you have veteran guys with a large body of work, there’s a reliability you have when guys have been in that situation so often. “Everybody has bad games, bad moments, and there may be times you close with a different lineup. That has happened … but for our guys, with Coby being out in particular, we have a lot of guys that have been in those situations but not consistently like Vooch has, right?” Donovan said he’s encouraged by the number of players in double figures and the selfless attitude to follow the plan at the expense of personal numbers. “We’ve got to be a team that relies on pace of play, ball movement, player movement, and then you’re going to look at matchups at the end of the game and who is playing well,” he said. “I’m not always going to get it right.” But so far he has, particularly with Matas Buzelis, who rebounded from a poor night in Orlando and led the Bulls with 27 points, including 4-of-6 3-point shooting, in Wednesday’s win. It’s the definition of team basketball, with Tre Jones and Josh Giddey as the protons feeding the nucleus and Buzelis as LaVine’s heir apparent, a handoff that became official during LaVine’s postgame news conference. “Matas, this is just the trajectory he’s going to be on,” LaVine said. “The athleticism and the mindset were already there. Every time I came back and worked at the (Advocate Center) at nighttime, he would be asking me, ‘Can I come in and work with you?’ You just want to see his development getting better and better. “He can do it all. The more he hones his shot and shot creation off the dribble … he’s a three-level scorer. Then couple that with his defensive ability and ability to get to the hoop, I’m not surprised and I told him, ‘Keep getting better.’” Buzelis praised LaVine afterward and thanked him for “still answering the phone.” That’s LaVine, of course, but it also says something about Buzelis’ willingness to seek the advice of a veteran to improve in an age when some players would spend the time on TikTok, believing their own hype. “This is a new season,” Buzelis said. “I have confidence in everyone in the room that we’re capable of doing anything if we’re all on the same page, if we’re all dedicated to the grind and our drive and ambition is all the same. We’ve just got to keep rolling.”
