CHICAGO — The Chicago Bulls were back at the United Center on Friday night for an exhibition game against the Houston Rockets, but this time around they arrived with a new coach installing a new system — and they sure looked like it in a 125-104 preseason loss.
In their first game in nine months, the Bulls offense looked like it was still working through some growing pains. On defense, they were not much better, surrendering 37 points in the first quarter and allowing more than 100 points in three quarters as they put little pressure on the Rockets’ 3-point shooting.
It’s only the first game of the preseason, but the first glimpse of the Bulls laid out areas in which the team still has some work to do.
New coach Billy Donovan plans to use this four-game preseason slate as a chance to mix and match lineup combinations while he settles on his rotation for opening night, though he’s still determining whether the team can go nine or 10 deep. His starters Friday were no surprise — Coby White, Zach LaVine, Otto Porter Jr., Lauri Markkanen and Wendell Carter Jr. walked out — but it was one of the rare occasions this lineup has been healthy and on the floor together.
The Bulls were bulldozed out of the gate. They gave veterans John Wall (13 points and nine assists) and DeMarcus Cousins (14 points and 3 of 4 on 3s), both of whom are coming off significant injuries, more than enough space on the floor to blow by them for impressive debuts. The guard combo of LaVine and White struggled to initiate offense for the rest of the team, and the Bulls turned the ball over about as often as they scored in the first quarter.
Rookie Patrick Williams (12 points, 5-of-9 shooting) showed off some impressive skills during his first NBA action, connecting on a pull-up jumper for his first points and nearly doing so on the next position while getting the assignment to defend some of the Rockets’ more-talented guards, such as Wall and Eric Gordon, to some mixed results. And while Carter’s 3-point shooting had been the talk of camp, he was aggressive from beyond the arc, though with little success (0-of-5).
White led the Bulls with 15 points.
