Why the Chicago Bulls won't win the NBA title

"The Bulls may not be a traditional laughingstock, but they are fragile."

The Chicago Bulls were a middling team last season, incapable of barging into the NBA's elite but not bad enough to soak in the deep waters of draft territory. So, what did the team do in the offseason? Save for a few subtle signings, the Bulls brought back the same group of players for another run. What that run will look like is anyone's guess, but it's safe to say that expectations are low.

Chicago still looking the same

Calls for the Bulls to make wholesale changes have been ongoing for quite some time now. However, those calls have fallen on deaf ears. Instead, the Bulls have essentially carved out a place in the middle part of the league.

"Amid calls for the organization to chart a more discernible direction, for immediately better or bare, the Chicago Bulls did what the Chicago Bulls do: perpetuated their prized position inside the lower-middle of the middle," Dan Favale of Bleacher Report said.

"Yet, this team is coming off a 40-win season and did nothing that materially nudges their needle," Favale added.

One flaw away from regression

The Bulls finished with a 40-42 record last season. That record came with the team's "Big 3" of Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, and Nikola Vucevic all submitting solid numbers and playing a substantial amount of minutes together. As a matter of fact, the frontcourt of Vucevic and promising forward Patrick Williams played all 82 games. Safe to say, the Bulls are standing on thin ice.

"The Bulls may not be a traditional laughingstock, but they are fragile. Any number of singular regressions could capsize their season: less-than-otherworldly crunch-time heroics from DeMar DeRozan, sub-All-Galaxy-Defense from Alex Caruso, limited development from Patrick Williams, fewer games attended by Diar DeRozan, etc., etc., etc," Favale said.