DENVER — Zach LaVine was still getting high pick-and-roll sets on the offensive end, Nikola Vucevic was still getting the ball in the post with the option to play-make or score, and DeMar DeRozan was still operating in the mid-range — a land that he has conquered like few others.
Yet, the Bulls’ big three continued to look and sound disconnected from the offense after the latest loss to the Nuggets.
A simple fix or a long-term issue?
It depends on who you talk to.
“It’s not like we’re doing anything different,’’ coach Billy Donovan insisted after the second-half meltdown in Denver. “To me I would be concerned if those guys weren’t getting the quality of the number of shots. DeMar has played in a bunch of different systems, and Zach too. They’ve scored wherever they’ve been. Same as Vooch.
“I think if it was like, ‘Hey, we’re taking DeMar and making him a point guard now, and instead of taking 18-20 shots he’s taking 12 shots because we want him to distribute.’ He’s never done this before, but he actually did some of that in San Antonio. I feel like they’re aggressive, they’re trying to move the ball. We have to do that.’’
The issue, however, seems to be when to move the ball.
The front office and coaching staff made it a point to not only run this core group back despite more underachieving moments than successful ones, and the idea was to help eliminate their shortcomings.
That meant changing the shot profile to shoot more threes, as well as keep the ball moving so the sets don’t get stagnant.
A sound plan.
But what that’s led to, according to DeRozan, is a group of guys trying to play the right way, and still hesitating too often when it comes down to shoot or pass.
“You just gotta keep your head down and keep working on it,’’ DeRozan said. “What’s going on is not coming from a malicious place. We want to share the ball and play the right way, but you can see guys overthinking it at times.
“I think we have a lot of hesitancy of trying to do the right thing over do the right thing.’’
Repetition will solve some of that, but then there’s also an uphill battle with the math.
Yes, the Bulls have changed the shot profile a bit by taking more threes this season – currently attempting 30.4 per game over a league-low 28.9 last season – but they are also missing at a much higher rate. After shooting 36.1% from three in the 2022-23 campaign, they were currently hitting just 31% after the Nuggets loss.
Donovan was banking on a market correction.
“If you look at a guy like Coby (White), just over his career, he’s been a pretty consistent shooter,’’ Donovan said. “He hasn’t shot the ball particularly well. You can say the same about Zach. I’m all for taking threes, but I also think they have to be the right ones at the right time by the right guys.’’
Asked if they were, Donovan responded, “I think for the most part we’ve done a pretty good job. We haven’t shot the ball well, and it does get deflating when teams are just hopping up and knocking shots down, and we’re getting relatively good ones and they don’t go in. We’re trying to attack the paint and get downhill.’’
Lurking in the background, however, is the reality that this group may only have a limited amount of time to figure it out. DeRozan is a free agent after this season, while LaVine and Vucevic continue churning in the trade rumors.
DeRozan acknowledged the possibility of a roster breakup being in play, but said that will fall on the organization, and “as players you can only control what you can control.’’
