CHICAGO — After the stars exited Cleveland, the dunk contest controversy died down and NBA All-Star Weekend officially drew to a close, plenty of questions remain about the final stretch of the Chicago Bulls season.
The Bulls entered the break tied with the Miami Heat for the top position in the Eastern Conference after a 38-21 start to the season. Plenty could change, however, in the final 23 games as the top six teams in the East jockey around a margin of only four wins.
DeMar DeRozan said the break came at the perfect time — the Bulls needed to nurse injuries and recuperate from a hectic January and early February filled with back-to-backs because of makeup scheduling from COVID-19 cancellations.
What do the Bulls need to do now? Here are their top four focuses coming out of the All-Star break.
1. Tristan Thompson’s adjustment period.
The Bulls officially signed Thompson amid the Saturday night festivities of All-Star Weekend, bringing in a necessary defensive reinforcement for Nikola Vučević with the team struggling to hold off opponents in the paint.
The two centers aren’t like-for-like matches. Vučević is a higher-volume offensive player with greater mobility around the perimeter, while Thompson brings physicality in the paint and much-needed rim protection.
This versatility at center is a positive for coach Billy Donovan, who can mix and match the two in different lineups. But it also creates a new challenge of quickly integrating a key secondary player into the rotation in less than two months.
Striking the proper balance of touches and playing time for Vučević was a struggle at the start of the season. The team’s style of play wasn’t feeding the center, and as a result his production was lower and at times his frustration visibly bubbled over.
Vučević found his rhythm — 24.1 points and 13.2 rebounds per game — in the last 10 games before the break by building chemistry with Ayo Dosunmu as the starting point guard. The last thing the Bulls want to do is disrupt Vučević’s playmaking, but they also need to quickly onboard Thompson to his full capacity.
Balancing the needs of both centers will be a key for the Bulls as they manage their needs in the paint.
2. Managing Zach LaVine’s knee.
LaVine participated in All-Star Weekend days after undergoing cortisone and platelet-rich plasma injections in his left knee. The knee has been bothering LaVine all season, drawing specific concern for the Bulls medical staff because of his prior ACL injury.
LaVine said his knee felt improved throughout the weekend, even when he launched into a 360-degree dunk during Sunday night’s game. But he also doesn’t expect to operate at 100% the rest of the season, a concern especially leading into the playoffs.
Donovan already signaled the Bulls plan to rest LaVine during each of their final four back-to-back games. LaVine said he prefers not to rest but will remain open to the idea depending on how his knee feels from game to game.
But regardless of his rest schedule, it’s clear the Bulls need to make sure LaVine feels he doesn’t need to do too much on the court to finish the regular season. In previous seasons, LaVine put his body on the line every night in an attempt to scrape out wins. Now he doesn’t have to do as much with help from DeRozan and Vučević.
Contributions from other guards such as Dosunmu and Coby White could help ease the workload.
3. Key player injury timelines.
March could be a big month for the three remaining Bulls regulars sidelined by injury: Patrick Williams (wrist), Alex Caruso (wrist) and Lonzo Ball (knee).
Caruso and Ball were given six-to-eight-week timelines for recovery in January, placing their expected return dates at the end of March. Donovan said Caruso will begin light team activities this week. Ball returned to mobility exercises the week before the All-Star break.
Williams could return in mid-March as he travels with the Bulls and begins to increase his activities in practice.
The return of all three players will be a major boost for the Bulls, particularly on the defensive end. But bringing two starters and their go-to sixth man back into the fold also creates the same delicate balance as integrating Thompson.
The Bulls are a chemistry team, playing their best basketball when they can click into a free-flowing, high-volume passing style of offense. Transitioning three injured players back into that chemistry will make the next month a critical swing period.
4. What to do about the defense.
With the offense humming, there’s only one sharp area of concern for the Bulls — the defense. What once was a key part of the team’s identity has quickly fallen to the wayside as the Bulls win games through shootouts rather than grinding down opponents.
It would be easy to simply wait for Caruso and Ball to return, bringing with them the most vigorous perimeter defensive pairing in the league. But Donovan has made it clear that he sees defense as a universal problem, one that won’t simply fade away with the return of a few players.
The Bulls don’t need to return their defense to the top 10 of the league — although they’d certainly like to, especially once their defensive specialists return next month. But the baseline for the Bulls is to return enough edge to their defense to hold teams under 110 points per game.
The Bulls most likely will make the playoffs thanks to their offense even if they keep bleeding points. But to compete in the postseason, they need to be able to slow the best scorers in the league. The path to rebuilding that defensive stamina begins this week.
