Chicago Bulls: 3 players who will decide how far they go

Lonzo Ball will decide how far the Chicago Bulls can go.

Without a doubt, the biggest variable in how far the Bulls can go is the health of Lonzo Ball. When he is on the court he is an excellent defender and distributor, and there is more zip to everything the Bulls do offensively. Ball shot a superb 42.3 percent from deep last year as well, and did so while taking over seven attempts from distance per night.

That sort of productivity is always going to be a big miss, and the most concerning part of it all is that Ball himself is unsure when he will be able to come back from this latest knee injury setback (although his father seems optimistic). If Ball was healthy, it would push one of Caruso or Dosunmu to the bench as well.

Neither of them would be happy with that, but it would give the Bulls some much-needed depth, and turn one of those two into a potentially elite sixth man. That is the best-case scenario for this organization, and so it is clear just how much of that rests on the availability of Ball.

DeRozan is always going to score, but he is getting no younger. Zach LaVine is himself a volume scorer, although when the team isn’t doing so well he can appear disengaged. Ball is the most unique player on the team and one they badly need if they are to realize their full potential. He will always find the open man and has no problem deferring to DeRozan or LaVine.

Players like Vucevic are at their best with him as well, as the two-man game Ball can play with bigs who both pick and pop are lethal because of his shooting stroke and eye for a pass. He may have career averages of 11.9 points and 6.2 assists, but we know by now that Ball is much more than those basic numbers.

In order to reach their full potential, he needs to be firing on all cylinders. The problem is, time is running out to do so with this version of the roster.