The Chicago Bulls dropped another game to a team in the top three of either conference as they lost to the Phoenix Suns 129-102 on Friday night.
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The loss in itself would not be an issue - in the NBA any team on any given night can beat another team - it's just that as we near the end of the regular season, we have a large enough sample size to see that the Bulls have made a pattern of dropping games against top teams in either conference.
The Bulls are 0-15 vs the top 3 teams both conferences this season. pic.twitter.com/3BDfRqemu4
— StatMuse (@statmuse) March 19, 2022
No one thought the Bulls would be as good as they are right now, but Chicago would consider themselves championship contenders, so given their record is 0-15 against the top three teams in either conference this season, the question is valid: Should we be concerned with the Chicago Bulls?
Let's take a look at a couple of issues of concern for Chicago.
Playing personnel
The Bulls have probably been the team most affected by injury and Covid related illness this season. Take a look at their player absences in 2021-22, it reads like a laundry list.
The fact that they are still 12 games above .500 after Friday's game is a testament to the next-man-up theory. Unfortunately for Chicago, though, the injury front doesn't seem to be getting better for them.
After getting Alex Caruso back following his absence due to a broken wrist, the Bulls appeared to be finally getting healthy at the right time, more so given that they were also expecting back point guard Lonzo Ball after seven weeks following his meniscus surgery.
Alas, coach Billy Donovan has admitted Ball, who has missed the Bulls' last 30 games, is at a "standstill" in his recovery, and there is still no timetable for his return.
"He has not responded," Donovan said. “There’s no setbacks. It’s still the same thing. He has not been able to do anything full speed, and anytime we get him close to that, there’s discomfort.”
With just 12 games left in the regular season, it is looking more likely with each game that Ball will not be able to return before the playoffs, and maybe even this season.
Zach LaVine, who played against Phoenix, is carrying a knee injury and looked hobbled against the Suns. He hasn't been 100 percent healthy since January and it's affected the team's offense greatly as defenses can just key in on DeMar DeRozan now.
Level of concern: High
Defense
He may not be a household name, but Alex Caruso just might be the Bulls' most important defensive player.
Ball went down with his meniscus tear on Jan. 14, one week later, Caruso was taken out and fractured his wrist. In the space of a week, the Bulls lost their two best perimeter defenders and seemingly lost their defense with them.
Chicago's defense gave up seven more points per 100 possessions in their absence.
The Bulls are 20-12 when Caruso plays. They went just 12-10 without him and have fallen from the East's top seed to No. 5.
When Caruso made his return in the Bulls' 101-91 win over the Cavaliers on Mar. 12, it marked the first time the team had kept an opponent to under 100 points since Jan. 21 when they held the defending champion, Milwaukee Bucks, to 94. Coincidentally, that was the game that Caruso got injured in.
Bulls were 4th in points off turnovers through their first 33 games.
— Mark K (@mkhoops) March 13, 2022
Bulls fell to 29th in that same metric over their next 33 games.
Huge swing directly attributable to the absence of Caruso & Ball.
Caruso comes back, defense ➡️ offense. pic.twitter.com/KlNQKWNpU1
After holding the Cavaliers under 100 points in Caruso’s first game back, the Bulls have allowed 112 points to the Kings and 125 to the Jazz, who shot 50.6 percent, and 129 to the Suns on Friday night.
The Bulls allowed the Suns to shoot 56 percent from the field.
Without both Ball and Caruso on the perimeter, opposing ball handlers are having an easier time picking apart Chicago’s defense.
Chicago are just 3-7 in their last ten games.
Their defensive rating, which was the best in the league at one stage, is 116.7 - good for 19th in the entire league over that time span.
Back in early February, coach Donovan warned against thinking the return of Caruso and (eventually) Ball would fix Chicago's defensive slide.
“To sit there and say (snaps fingers) when these guys (Ball, Caruso) are back, the defense is gonna be great, I don’t believe that,” Donovan said. “It’s gotta be a team thing, all the way around. Those guys are good at it (navigating screens), but I think Ayo (Dosunmu) can be really good at it. I think Troy Brown can be really, really good. I think Coby — I think our guys that are playing can be good at it. But we’re not at a level we need to be at, in my opinion.”
Level of concern: Moderate to high.
