While the Chicago Bulls had a productive offseason, there are a few major issues with the rebuild as it currently stands.
From one angle, Chicago Bulls fans can’t complain about this offseason … at all. After all, bringing in Jabari Parker, who has All-Star potential, to fill out their already impressive young starting lineup, and drafting Wendell Carter Jr., who had a monster NBA Summer League (for whatever that’s worth), it seems like the offseason couldn’t have gotten better for the Bulls.
But, from another angle, a more up-close angle, there are two huge issues with the GarPax creation: defense and injuries.
The Bulls may look more like the Chicago Matadors on defense next season. Sure, Wendell Carter Jr. and Kris Dunn have the potential to be strong defensive players in the league, but defense is a team mindset that is built into the culture and foundation of locker rooms. It isn’t effective when only some individuals –one of which is a rookie — are engaged on the defensive end.
In this case, the Bulls have not one, not two, but three legitimately poor defenders in their starting five: Zach LaVine (0.8 steals and 0.2 blocks per game in his four-year career), Jabari Parker (1.0 steals and 0.4 blocks per game in his four-year career), and Lauri Markkanen (0.6 steals and 0.6 blocks per game in 2017-18). While Markkanen showed some flashes of potential on D last season, he still ended up ranking 320th out of all NBA players in defense rating. Yikes.
I really like Zach LaVine’s game, it’s fun to me.
— Hardwood Paroxysm (@HPbasketball) August 1, 2018
I really like Zach LaVine’s game, it’s fun to me.
Teams with LaVine on the floor have never had below a 109.5 defensive rating which is basically radioactive.
I really like Zach LaVine’s game, it’s fun to me.
There is an assumption that in today’s offensively charged NBA, at least one of a team’s starters will be a poor defender, but for three of your marquee players to be poor defenders, it becomes a whole-team liability.
When Parker was signed, he brashly said, “They don’t pay players to play defense,” and while that may be partially true, they also don’t pay players who are perpetually on losing teams as a result of their poor defense.
Another big L: David Nwaba proved himself a great defender after being passed on by many teams, and he was lost to the Cleveland Cavaliers this offseason.
Former No. 9 overall draft pick Noah Vonleh was an athletic and versatile bench option who had potential for some plug-in defense, and he too was lost in free agency to the New York Knicks.
The only other option for defense right now is Denzel Valentine, who was totally embarrassed in the Drew League this summer. Granted, he wasn’t exactly trying his hardest in a casual Drew League game, but nonetheless, it doesn’t look good from the defensive end right now.
The other offseason oversight is the fact that the Bulls now are relying on not one but two players with major injuries on their resumés. Jabari Parker has torn his left ACL twice in his four-year NBA career. He is a great kid with huge upside, but that is some gamble the Bulls took.
While LaVine has only suffered one ACL tear, the truth is between all of these factors, it might not be time to start celebrating a successful rebuild just yet. There is certainly a lot to be tentatively excited about in Chicago this summer, but defense and injury concerns could easily rear their ugly heads in the future.