Evaluating the Chicago Bulls at the 2019 NBA All-Star break

The Chicago Bulls have had a roller coaster first half of the 2018-19 NBA season. Here’s an evaluation of how the rocky the ride has been.

Last season, the Chicago Bulls finished with a meager 27-55 record and slipped to the seventh pick in the 2018 NBA Draft. They netted Duke big man Wendell Carter Jr. and Boise State swingman Chandler Hutchison with the 22nd selection, acquired in the Nicola Mirotic trade.

During the summer of 2018, the air was full of cautious optimism in the Windy City. Lauri Markkanen was coming off a solid rookie campaign and Zach LaVine was finally fully recovered from a torn ACL suffered as a member of the Minnesota Timberwolves.

It looked like head coach Fred Hoiberg would finally have the roster to run the pace-and-space offense he had coveted for so long.

Injuries have been a major factor in the first half

That optimism deflated quickly for Hoiberg and the Chicago Bulls as injuries were a major factor in the first half of the season. Markkanen, the Finnish seven-footer, dislocated his elbow just days into training camp. Reserve swingman Denzel Valentine was then announced to be out for the season with a foot injury. Then, point guard Kris Dunn missed significant time early with a knee injury and forward Bobby Portis went down in the season’s fourth game, also with a knee injury.

The injuries continued to pile up, as Carter has been lost for the season after thumb surgery. Six rotation regulars all missed significant time, effectively damaging the on-court growth and chemistry building so vital to the development of a young squad.

Throw in the ill-advised signing of Jabari Parker and the failure of the front office to mesh the roster with veteran leadership (leadership committee notwithstanding) and we can see where this story is headed.

An early season coaching change, for the win?

Needless to say, the Bulls didn’t get off to a hot start, losing 19 of 24 games to start the season, costing Hoiberg his job and prompting the ascension of Jim Boylen into the head coach’s seat. Boylen, having survived a near-mutiny, then lost 18 of his first 24 games and has a 9-25 record as the head coach (notably absent from his title is the term “interim”).

To put it mildly, Boylen has struggled in his role as the head man in Chicago. His old school tact wasn’t received well in the beginning stages of his tenure. Just days into his reign, the Bulls suffered their worst loss in the history of the franchise, a 56-point embarrassment at the hands of the Boston Celtics. Making matters worse, Boylen benched his starters three minutes into the second half, saving them for practice the next day instead of game action.

Boylen, often heard on Bulls’ telecast pleading with his players to slow down the tempo in a fast-paced era, has seen his offense recover nicely from early struggles, scoring over 100 points in 18 straight games recently.

The addition of Otto Porter Jr., acquired from the Washington Wizards for Parker and Portis, has helped the Bulls increase spacing and has allowed LaVine and Markkanen to operate more freely within the confines of the offense.

The front office will always be criticized, but has been busy

GarPax will always be a lightning rod for criticism in Chicago. There’s no doubting that, but John Paxson and Gar Forman have not rested on their laurels this season. First, the duo fired Hoiberg after a poor start to the season. They then moved Justin Holiday to the Memphis Grizzlies for Wayne Selden Jr. and two second round draft picks.

In addition, GarPax brought in Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot from the Oklahoma City Thunder for roster depth and of course traded Parker and Portis for Otto Porter Jr.

The Bulls have not been particularly media savvy, with John Paxson fanning internet flames after the Porter trade with statements about the franchise not being a free agent destination.

Essentially, the Bulls made the trade for Porter in large part because the front office didn’t believe the team could attract free agents. That’s a scary reality for a franchise with a championship history and in the third-largest media market in the country.

Four games in, it appears that making the move for the former Wizard and Georgetown Hoya was a good, if not great move. Porter is averaging 22.5 points per game while blistering the nets, shooting 62.1 percent from the field and 57.9 percent from 3-point land.

The issue here is that the move had to be made in the first place out of fear that no other notable free agent would come in the summer.

One thing we do know is, regardless of how the rest of the season goes, we don’t need to enter the summer with expectations of the Chicago Bulls being big players in the free agent market.

Kris Dunn is the biggest question on the roster

Though the season has been dreadful, the team’s young core has mostly shown improvement and despite the poor record, the future looks bright in Chicago. Markkanen has posted monster numbers recently, LaVine has proven capable of carrying the scoring load for long stretches by averaging 23 points per game, and Carter should solidify the post on both ends of the floor for years to come.

The addition of Porter only exemplifies the current optimism, as the Bulls have gone 2-2 with him in the lineup. His career-high 37-point outburst as the Bulls took down the Memphis Grizzlies saw the team enter the All-Star break on a positive note.

The same optimism isn’t widely shared for Kris Dunn. The third-year point guard out of Providence has struggled to maintain consistency this season and doubt has seeped into the United Center about his long-term capabilities running the Bulls offense.

From a defensive perspective, Dunn is a standout defender and can trigger defense-to-offense transitions in the open court. The problem for Dunn lies in decision-making and ball security.

He is often careless with the basketball, dribbles into trouble too often and throws too many errant passes to be considered a legitimate point guard of the future. In 31 games this season, Dunn is averaging 6.5 assists and 2.5 turnovers per game to go along with 11.7 points. He’s young and can improve, but his growth the remainder of the season will go a long way in determining his future with the Bulls.

What to look for the remainder of the season

At the All-Star break, the Chicago Bulls rest with a 14-44 record. To match last season’s win total, the squad needs to go 13-11 the rest of the way, which seems highly unlikely. Currently, the Bulls have the fourth-worst record in the association and each win costs them a chance at securing the first overall selection in the 2019 NBA Draft and the right to pick Duke’s Zion Williamson.

For the remaining 24 games, the Bulls need to find answers from Dunn in the backcourt and really, avoid any more catastrophic injuries to their core. Fans hoping for the Bulls to continue tanking for a top spot in the draft have to remember that at best, Chicago has a 86 percent chance of NOT landing the top pick. With the Markkanen-Porter-LaVine trio playing as well as they have before the break, those odds might increase.

Finding chemistry and cohesiveness is important for this team in the last two months. This roster will largely be the squad that returns in the fall, so building together is key for future success.  Winning this season isn’t as important (maybe of the least importance), but developing those winning habits starts with chemistry on the court. These last 24 games will go a long way in getting there.