Chicago Bulls: 3 early season takeaways from the first week

2. The future is still the main focus

As bright as the future looks for the Chicago Bulls, the present is still murky. Obviously injuries have forced the rebuild into a holding pattern while the team awaits the recovery of Markkanen, Valentine and Dunn while hoping for the best for Portis.

With their second-best player in Markkanen and lead guard in Dunn out until late November at the earliest, the Bulls’ hopes for the playoffs might be dashed before they really got running. With a young squad, it’s tough to lose any momentum during the season. Two starters could potentially miss nearly a quarter of the season, so it’s likely that this team will be headed for the lottery for the third straight season.

With the Bulls struggling early on, it would behoove Hoiberg to get rookies Wendell Carter Jr. and Chandler Hutchison as much valuable experience as possible. It’ll be a challenge for the coach to balance building for the future while trying to win as much as possible, but the reality is that’s what comes with the territory.

Most experts were predicting Chicago to be looking up from the bottom of the standings in the spring. There was still real hope that with the young talent on the roster, the young Bulls would be earning some valuable playoff experience this season. It’s early, but those goals may have to be placed on hold.