Are The Chicago Bulls Legitimate Title Contenders?

The Chicago Bulls may be one of the best teams in the NBA at the moment, but are they good enough to win the East?

The Chicago Bulls are the hottest team in the Eastern Conference. Chicago has won six straight games, including two against the Toronto Raptors and one against the Indiana Pacers. Both of those teams are considered some of the best the East has to offer, and the Bulls handled their business against them.

None of the wins were blowouts–the largest margin of victory Chicago managed over those three games was beating Toronto by seven points–but that’s actually a good sign for the Bulls. This unit knows exactly how to win close games, in a way that so few Eastern Conference teams do.

Outside of Atlanta, Cleveland and Miami, most of the teams currently slated to make the playoffs in the East have no idea how to win once they get there.

Toronto got swept in the first round last season despite having homecourt advantage. Multiple Pacers have playoff experience, but not together as a unit. The Magic and Pistons would be in completely uncharted territory if they hold on to their spots, and the Knicks and Celtics aren’t much better off.

The Bulls have been in the playoffs for the last seven seasons, and they’re sure to make that eight with a berth this year. 2011 has (thus far) been Chicago’s highest peak since Michael Jordan left town. The 62-win Bulls made the Eastern Conference Finals, just to lose to LeBron James‘ Heat in five games.

They have veteran leaders in Pau Gasol, Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler, all of whom were major parts of Chicago’s playoff run last season. This team has talent, and they have experience.

But are these Bulls good enough to finally best the rest of the Eastern Conference, and make their first NBA Finals without the help of one Michael Jordan? That might depend on their depth, which has been pushed to the limit this season.

Chicago’s Youth Movement Is Vital

Although this team does have playoff experience, the Chicago Bulls are dependent on their young talent as well. Four of Chicago’s important role players–Bobby Portis, Doug McDermott, Nikola Mirotic and Tony Snell–are all under the age of 25.

The Bulls need that group to be good, and luckily for Chicago it seems that most of them are. Portis has been a revelation of late, getting key minutes and cementing himself as a good NBA player already in his rookie season. Even when Joakim Noah returns from injury, Portis is assured a role on the Bulls moving forward.

McDermott has found his stroke from long range, but is probably the worst defender the Bulls have to offer. Unless he improves greatly on that end, he likely won’t have much of a role in the postseason this year.

Snell has been altogether terrible for Chicago, and only continues to get minutes because the Bulls have no other real options at small forward. With Mike Dunleavy out for at least another month, Mirotic, Snell, McDermott and E’Twaun Moore are the Bulls only small forwards.

Mirotic has struggled shooting the basketball from the field, but has surprisingly enough been a good defender, giving up just 98 points per 100 possessions. He’s probably more of a stretch four in reality, but when the alternatives are a struggling Snell and two limited bench players, playing him slightly out of position doesn’t look so bad. And to his credit, he’s adapted well defensively.

The reality is that the Bulls talent runs deep, but it’s uneven. Things will look better once Dunleavy returns, but Chicago would be wise to explore any and all trade opportunities to become a more balanced team.

The Bulls have Mirotic, Taj Gibson, Bobby Portis, Joakim Noah, and Pau Gasol. That’s just too many big guys, especially considering the holes at small forward. Teams like the Washington Wizards are in need of real power forwards, and a guy like Jared Dudley would be amazing on this Bulls team.

Noah is hurt at the moment, but figures to come back and anchor the second unit along with Portis. That leaves Gasol and Gibson as the starting bigs, with Mirotic starting at small forward. Although Chicago has somehow made all these pieces fit together, they still feel like they’re a bit too heavy on big men.

This current core has been good enough to be the second-best team in the Eastern Conference, but it feels like they might be one key trade away from living up to their true potential. Chicago could use another wing player, and they have the assets to go get one.

Even if they don’t, though, the Bulls are still a strong team. These parts all work well together, and this team knows exactly how to win, even with a brand-new head coach.

Same Style, Different Coach

Despite their best efforts, the Chicago Bulls are still a defense-first team. Although the Bulls seemed to shift towards more of an offensive focus when they went out and hired Fred Hoiberg, they’re currently sporting the fourth-best defense in the NBA.

Chicago’s offense has floundered at the same time, as only eight teams have a worse offensive rating than the Bulls do. Wasn’t Hoiberg brought in to make Chicago into more of an offensively focused team?

Maybe he was, but no coach can change how his players are. The truth is these Bulls are just good defenders. All of Chicago’s rotation players have added wins defensively, and only Hinrich, Rose, McDermott and Aaron Brooks have a negative defensive box plus-minus.

At the time Hoiberg was hired, it seemed like the move had a great chance of backfiring horribly. Taking a defensively orientated roster and trying to flip them all 180 degrees seemed like it could ruin both sides of the ball for Chicago.

Instead, the Bulls are just continuing to play good defense while they play a fast, yet inefficient offense. Even with Pau Gasol and Jimmy Butler around, Chicago has floundered efficiency-wise on offense, although they’re just outside the top ten in terms of points scored per game.

That might be enough for the Bulls, honestly. They’re the best rebounding team in the NBA, and all of those extra possessions coupled with hard-nosed defense means they don’t need to be the Warriors on the other end. Guys like Rose, Mirotic and Snell need to be better than the dumpster fires they’ve been offensively, but all of them have previously shown signs that they’re not really this bad.

In the postseason, Chicago will be able to fight just about any team by playing great defense and relying on Jimmy Butler to create points on the other end. If games are close in the fourth quarter, it’s hard to bet against a Butler-led Bulls team.

They’ve already beaten Cleveland, Toronto and Indiana already this year, with Atlanta looming on Saturday. If the Bulls beat the Hawks, they’ve then proven they can go toe-to-toe with any of the Eastern Conference juggernauts.

At the end of the day, it’s hard to criticize or praise Chicago’s replacement of Tom Thibodeau with Hoiberg. The Bulls are still good, both defensively and in general. And as Steve Kerr proved last season, rookie head coaches are very capable of leading a great team.

So if it’s not the depth or the head coach, what’s really holding back the Chicago Bulls from dominating the East?

New Leadership In Chicago

Although the stars from that incredible 2011 season are still around, they’re no longer so essential. Derrick Rose is still a starter for Chicago when he’s healthy–Joakim Noah cannot say the same. But this is Jimmy Butler’s team now, and the Bulls are better for it.

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Even when compared to Rose’s MVP season in 2011, Butler’s numbers this season are fantastic. Rose had the bulk scoring and assisting edge, but Butler wins efficiency, rebounds, steals, blocks and defensive efficiency as well.

If Rose was still at this level, Chicago might be unstoppable. Unfortunately, he’s not even close to it anymore. All of Rose’s numbers have taken a nosedive, especially his efficiency.

Derrick Rose is currently shooting 39.6 percent from the field and 22.9 percent from beyond the arc–only Mirotic and Snell have lower field goal percentages in Chicago, and no Bull that’s taken more than two three-point attempts is currently doing worse from beyond the arc than Rose is.

The Bulls get no better with Rose on the floor, and 5.3 points per 100 possessions better with him on the bench. At this point in the season, that can’t be written up to merely a small sample size.

Rose could potentially shine in a reduced role, but he has yet to embrace that mentality this season. Rose leads the Bulls rotation players in field goal attempts per 36 minutes, and takes over a shot more per 36 than Butler does. That will need to change for the Bulls to beat a team like the Cavaliers in the playoffs.

Although Rose generated a lot of excitement in the postseason last year for coming back and having some strong performances, he still shot under 40 percent from the field. Butler, meanwhile, shot 44 percent in 2015’s postseason. He also outscored Rose, despite taking nearly two less shots per game.

This is going to be the biggest issue these Bulls have to resolve going forward. And although Rose and Butler cannot get enough of insisting that their relationship is good, it isn’t good for the Chicago Bulls that Rose still takes so many shots.

The Bulls front office may actually be in favor of that, however. In late December, an NBC Sports article surfaced claiming that many within the Bulls camp bristled at the new role Butler has taken with the team.

According to that piece, the Bulls “are questioning whether Jimmy can be the leader that this group needs with so much turmoil going on around them.” Apparently Chicago’s brass wasn’t paying attention last year, when Butler carried the Bulls to 50 wins without Rose for some 30 games.

For Chicago to do much of anything in the postseason, getting Rose and Butler in the right roles is going to be essential. Jimmy Butler has shown he can be everything the Bulls need to win games.

He scored 40 points in the second half in one of those wins against the Raptors, despite getting stitches at halftime after taking an elbow to the mouth in the first half. Butler broke Jordan’s record for points in a half with that performance.

Butler made 70 percent of his field goals to seal Chicago’s comeback win in that final quarter. He was completely unguardable: the Bulls knew it, and the Raptors knew it, and nobody could do anything about it. He dominated that second half, and he won the game for the Bulls.

There’s only one thing preventing Butler from doing that in the playoffs: Derrick Rose. When the Bulls run through Butler, they can be one of the top teams in the entire NBA. When Rose is around they’re still good, but his usage needs to drop for Chicago to be great. Good doesn’t cut it against LeBron James in the playoffs.

It’s no coincidence that the Bulls are 18-11 with Rose and 4-1 without him this year, with the only loss coming to the Golden State Warriors. Jettisoning Rose shouldn’t be necessary to be great, but lessening his role on offense will be.

Expecting him to regain MVP form is wishful thinking, and deluded considering that the Chicago Bulls’ most valuable player is Jimmy Butler.

If they let Butler run, then these Bulls have a real chance against any team in the NBA. If Chicago insists Derrick Rose is still their guy, they probably won’t make it out of the second round.

Chicago’s depth is uneven and their coach may be inexperienced, but they’re good enough to overcome all of that and be great if they’d just give the damn ball to Jimmy Butler.