The Bulls are living fast enough to keep their season from sinking under the weight of some brutal shooting numbers.
Chicago entered its game against the Boston Celtics on Oct. 26 with the NBA’s worst 3-point percentage by a wide margin, and the rest of the profile wasn’t much prettier: 28th in field-goal percentage, 21st in turnovers, 28th in offensive rating and a -13.3 point differential that ranked fourth-worst in the league. But the Bulls have one thing propping up the whole operation - they’re playing at a blistering tempo that leads the NBA.
At that point, Chicago sat first in pace at 108.83 and second in total possessions with 328. That kind of volume matters when the shots aren’t falling. If a team is missing at an alarming clip, the next best move is to create as many chances as possible.
The raw shooting figures tell the story plainly. The Bulls were hitting just 22.6 percent from 3-point range, dead last in the league, and 40.9 percent from the field, which left them 28th overall. Only the New York Knicks at 40.8 percent and the Charlotte Hornets at 40.7 percent were worse.
The difference, at least on paper, is that Chicago doesn’t have the same built-in cushion as those clubs. The Knicks have Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, OG Anunoby, Mikal Bridges and Landry Shamet.
Charlotte has Kon Knueppel, Brandon Miller, Naz Reid, Grayson Allen and old friend Coby White. The Hornets were one of the NBA’s best 3-point shooting teams last season and are expected to be strong again.
The Bulls, meanwhile, have Norman Powell, Buddy Hield and ... Jalen Smith?
Josh Giddey? Matas Buzelis?
There isn’t much evidence of a shooting rescue coming.
What Chicago does have is sheer shot volume. The Bulls were taking 41.3 3-pointers per game, fourth-most in the league, while teams in the bottom five in 3-point percentage generally weren’t coming close to that kind of volume. They were also averaging 92.0 field-goal attempts, seventh-most in the NBA, even though they still couldn’t crack the 41.0 percent mark from the floor.
There is at least one part of the offense that’s working. Tiago Splitter’s team leads the league with 35.7 free throws per game and is converting them at an 84.1 percent clip, good for fifth.
In Other News...
Bulls Loss Got Even More Frustrating After Caleb Wilson Confirmation
The late-game frustration around the Bulls recent loss only deepened after the NBAs Last Two Minute Report confirmed what looked obvious in real time: a missed foul on Anthony Davis against Caleb Wilson in the closing seconds. Chicago had already lived with the result on the floor, but the report clarified that the contact mattered in the biggest moment, when every possession was under a microscope.
For the Bulls, the sting is less about a single whistle and more about how close the game came to turning on it. Wilsons shot sequence became the focal point after the league acknowledged Davis hit his wrist and affected the attempt, leaving Chicago to wonder what might have followed had the call been made on the court. [Read more 🡒]
Bulls Present A Test Celtics Can't Afford To Mismanage
The Bulls arrive in Boston on the second night of a back-to-back, which gives this matchup a familiar regular-season edge: one team trying to survive the schedule, the other trying to enforce its standard. Chicago is still settling into a new coachs system, and that learning curve has shown up in the form of sloppy possessions and too many empty trips. For the Celtics, it is the kind of game where discipline matters as much as talent, because a less experienced opponent can be dangerous if it is allowed to hang around.
Bostons challenge is not just beating Chicago, but managing the game in a way that keeps the bigger picture intact. Joe Mazzulla has some minute-management decisions to weigh with key rotation pieces in a back-to-back setting, and those choices can shape both the rhythm and the margin. The Bulls may be young, but they have enough athleticism to punish lapses, which is why the Celtics cannot afford to treat this as a routine night at home. [Read more 🡒]
Bulls Rebuild Is About To Face Its First Real Stress Test
The Bulls have been forced into a tough opening stretch, and it has already looked like the kind of early-season grind that can expose a young roster. Chicago has been living on the road far more than usual, mixing in trips away from home with matchups against playoff-caliber teams, while rookie Caleb Wilson has been one of the brighter spots through the uneven start. For a team trying to build something in a rebuild, there is already a real need to balance patience with progress.
Tiago Splitter now has the job of keeping the group steady through a run that will demand plenty from the Bulls young core. The challenge is not just the travel or the losses, but the quality of what is coming next, with another difficult test waiting on the schedule and little margin for a team still learning how to handle pressure together. [Read more 🡒]