One thing every NBA team has to be thankful for on Thanksgiving: Chicago Bulls – Everything?
Only the rosiest preseason projections had the Bulls looking this good. Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan are playing the best basketball of their careers, and are smoking opponents when on the court together by huge margins.
Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso are terrorizing opponents on the perimeter. Caruso, especially, is out here extinguishing careers. The Nuggets’ poor Monte Morris is going to have to sleep with the lights on for the next few days.
Even if the Bulls’ elite defense cools off a little, there’s still upside on offense. Nikola Vucevic has had a rough start to the season, but he’s too talented to shoot this poorly for long.
Depth was a concern coming into the season, but even with Patrick Williams’ unfortunate injury, they’ve been able to patch together some strong defensive units on the second team.
Javonte Green and Derrick Jones Jr. have made life tough on opposing bigs, and Ayo Dosonmu has been a pleasant surprise as an energy guy capable of knocking down threes. Coby White’s return should give the bench unit some more scoring punch to complement the defensive core.
The new-look Chicago Bulls (only three players remain from last season) had one of the higher variances in the league coming into the season, and pundits predicted everything from 11th in the East to championship contender.
Now, it’s clear they’ll be fighting for home-court advantage in the East, and after that… last season’s playoffs proved that anything is possible.