NBA Opening Week is finally here and the Chicago Bulls tip off Thursday in Philadelphia. As we enter a new season, here are three takeaways from the preseason.
The 2018-19 NBA season is upon us and for the Chicago Bulls, this means year two of the rebuild is ready to commence. Set in motion by the Jimmy Butler trade (which still seems relevant for some reason), the Bulls front office, led by John Paxson and Gar Forman, has been busy reshaping the roster to suit head coach Fred Hoiberg‘s pace-and-space offense.
The expectations for this squad are wide ranging, from preparing the United Center for a playoff atmosphere to placing franchise hopes on the bounce of a ping-pong ball at the NBA Draft Lottery in May. Chicago fans should be gently reminded that this is a team rebounding from a 27-win season in 2017-18.
Injuries have already been a factor before the regular season has even begun. Lauri Markkanen suffered a severe elbow sprain the opening week of training camp and Denzel Valentine went down with an ankle injury shortly after. For this team to be playoff-hunting in the spring, the injury bug has to be kept at a minimum the rest of the way.
The Chicago Bulls went 2-3 in the preseason. From Zach LaVine‘s explosive return to the budding controversy over whether Jabari Parker will actually be a $20 million bench player this season, there were plenty of storylines coming out of Chicago. Before we dive into the new campaign, here are three main takeaways from the Bulls’ preseason.