Chicago Bulls: 3 bold predictions for 2019-20 NBA season

1. Bulls will be in the hunt for a postseason berth

The Chicago Bulls haven’t exactly given their fans much to cheer about over the last two seasons. In the first year of the team’s rebuild, they posted 27 wins, which marked the first time they failed to reach the 30-win plateau in a season since 2003-04.

If that wasn’t bad enough, Chicago followed that up with a 22-60 record last season – the fourth-worst record in the NBA and the fifth-worst record in franchise history.

With that in mind, it shouldn’t come as much of a surprise that they finished near the bottom of the league in both offensive and defensive efficiency. Although the basketball gods haven’t been smiling on this team over the past few years, there are a few positives worth mentioning.

For starters, for the second straight offseason, the Bulls have selected a couple of rookies who can come in and contribute from day one.

Secondly, while the injury bug has prevented the Bulls from reaching their full potential, I think it’s safe to say that they won’t miss 290 games, as was the case last season.

Zach LaVine and Lauri Markkanen turned in solid seasons, while Otto Porter Jr. played well in limited action (15 games) and that trend should continue into next season as well.

It is also worth noting that their free-agency acquisitions – Thaddeus Young and Tomas Satoransky – will add solid depth to the roster regardless of which unit you put them on the court with.

So, while it is still too early to pencil the Bulls in as a surefire playoff team at this point, if all goes according to plan, they will be contention for one of the lower seeds in the Eastern Conference.