2. Improve defensively
Defense was a calling card for the Bulls during their championship runs in the 1990s as well as under the previous coaching regime. With a roster comprised mostly of young, unproven players, the Bulls failed to make the grade in this area last season, to say the least.
How bad was it?
Well, for starters, they gave up 110 points per game, the fourth-worst mark in the NBA. The Bulls also posted a less than impressive defensive rating of 110.9, placing them at 24th in this category.
To hammer the point home even further, Chicago ranked 27th in opponents’ field-goal efficiency as teams shot 47.2 percent from the field against them. While Parker certainly brings a lot to the table from an offensive standpoint, he hasn’t exactly excelled in terms of being a good defender.
For instance, his 109.5 defensive rating ranked …. wait for it … .433rd in the league and his defensive win shares ranked 353rd. On top of that, out of the 82 players that played the power forward position last season, Parker ranked 77th, posting a defensive real plus-minus of -1.7.
From a statistical standpoint, the numbers are cause for concern in the minds of Bulls fans. However, Parker had a different take when asked if he could play defense during a radio interview.
From 670 The Score:
"“I don’t know,” he said, “I just stick to my strengths. Look at everybody in the league — they don’t pay players to play defense. “I’m not gonna say that I won’t, but to say that’s a weakness is like saying that’s everybody’s weakness. I’ve scored 30s and 20s off of guys who say they try to play defense.” “Certain guys have a (scoring) average, and no matter what you do they still get that average,” he said. “They pay people to score the ball, and I would hope that somebody scores the ball on me if they paid them that much.”"
While Parker isn’t losing any sleep over not being a stout defender, he will need to improve in this area in order to improve the team’s chances of being in the conference playoff race.