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Will the Chicago Bulls' win total improve this season?
The Chicago Bulls head to Nashville for the first stage of their training camp under a cloud of uncertainty. While the team has added a couple of veterans who will no doubt help their campaign, those moves were hardly enough to elevate the Bulls to another level in the Eastern Conference. So, the question is: will the Bulls improve on the 40 wins they had last season?
Bulls could do it
According to Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report, the Bulls have the pieces necessary to become a better team than last season. The team retained big man Nikola Vucevic, gave extensions to Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu, and added Jevon Carter and Torrey Craig. Most of these guys may not be All-Star caliber players, but they should provide depth to the Bulls and help them win more games than last season.
“On paper, the Bulls should be better. The team added some useful veterans in Jevon Carter and Torrey Craig, re-signed Nikola Vucevic, Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu and has Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan returning,” Swartz wrote.
Improvements from the Bulls’ young guns, Patrick Williams and Dalen Terry, will certainly help the team’s cause.
“A fourth-year leap from Patrick Williams would certainly help push the Bulls back into the postseason, although we've yet to see evidence of that happening. Dalen Terry, the 18th overall pick in 2022, developing into a rotation player would be nice as well,” Swartz added.
What will hinder the Bulls?
The lack of a true-blue point guard will keep the Bulls from realizing their full potential. Lonzo Ball was the key that unlocked the Bulls’ success in 2021, and the team did not do enough to replace him, especially as he is expected to miss another full season due to a knee injury.
“Lonzo Ball is going to miss another full season and the Bulls still have done nothing to solidify the point guard position in his absence. The job will again be a team effort from players such as Alex Caruso, White, Carter and Dosunmu, with LaVine and DeRozan seeing plenty of on-ball time as well. Still, this roster needs a true pass-first option to set the table for everyone else in order to thrive after finishing 24th in offense last season,” Swartz explained.
