This past season, the Chicago Bulls took a step back. They were eliminated in the Play-In Tournament after breaking their four-year playoff drought just one season prior in 2021-22. Now, with Arturas Karnisovas’ eyes set on competing with the current core, the Bulls will need to make some serious changes this summer.
While free agency and the trade market will provide them with opportunities to improve, they also need to get better internally if they have any hopes of being a playoff team next year. According to KC Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago, the Bulls’ Big Three of Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Nikola Vucevic need to improve offensively.
All three players put up solid numbers on the offensive end, but Johnson pointed out their need to get better as a group, as Chicago’s offense wasn’t great this past season.
“Individually, LaVIne, DeRozan and Vucevic all had solid seasons,” Johnson wrote. “But in their league-leading 1,642 shared minutes together, they produced an offensive rating of just 111.3.
“For comparison, Sacramento’s trio of Domantas Sabonis, Harrison Barnes and Kevin Huerter, which played the second-most minutes together at 1,608, registered an offensive rating of 121.5.
“Denver’s most-used three-man combination of Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon and Kentavious Caldwell-Pope posted an offensive rating of 124.5 in 1,518 shared minutes.”
Johnson said that they need to improve as a unit if the Bulls want to have any success running things back.
“These numbers, plus the fact the Bulls missed the playoffs, certainly could suggest that this three-man core has a non-championship ceiling,” Johnson wrote. “But if the Bulls return it, the coaching staff and players must figure out a way to unlock its collective rather than individual power.”
This team doesn’t project to be a title contender, and unless the Big Three improves on offense as a group, they might not be a playoff contender, either.
