So, one thing all Bulls fans can agree on right now is that this team doesn’t like to play defense. This team has let up a ton of points in its first 3 preseason games, but what’s alarming is that there are no signs of improvement to fix this.
Bulls defense 😍
Game 1 – 116 pts allowed
Game 2 – 116 pts
Game 3 – 91 pts through 3 quarters— Tankathon.com (@tankathon) October 9, 2018
You see that stat above? Yeah, that’s not good. This team is too athletic and to fast to keep being consistently beat on the defensive end. Obviously, this starts with the Head Coach, Fred Hoiberg, and trickles down to all of the players. Bulls fans have seen consistent effort from Wendell Carter, Kris Dunn, and even Zach Lavine in the first few preseason games.
Though the Bulls prized free agent signing, Jabari Parker has been struggling. The offense has not come to him yet and Bulls fans are seeing little to no effort on defense.
How not to guard pick-and-roll, starring Jabari Parker pic.twitter.com/mbFdLtUEol
— Mark (@mkhoops) October 8, 2018
This cannot happen. If Jabari isn’t going to score, he needs to contribute in some way while he’s on the court. Now, Jabari did have some great highlights last night. It wasn’t all bad. Jabari showed some explosiveness and did get out on the run with the offense.
.@JabariParker and @JustHolla7 on the run pic.twitter.com/WPcyGVjDXQ
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) October 8, 2018
The play above here shows that. Jabari and Holiday run the floor and Jabari delivers a great pass to finish the play.
Seeing a lot of Jabari Parker slander tonight by Bulls Twitter (mostly deserved) but here’s a highlight worth watching #Bulls pic.twitter.com/PyETVVOI23
— Jordan Maly (@JordanCMaly) October 9, 2018
Here Jabari puts his big frame to work. Jabari Brings the ball up the court and finishes strong over the taller defender.
Jabari Parker gets fouled before the dunk pic.twitter.com/2NhjCpzlL6
— Gustavo Vega (@iamvega1982) October 9, 2018
On this play, Jabari uses his athleticism and speed to get around the defender and finish the play. Jabari is a career 49% shooter, Bulls fans shouldn’t be panicking about his offense yet. Though they should be irritated about the defensive effort he shows.
Zach Lavine was for sure the highlight for the Bulls last night. Zach was scoring at will and showed many fans what he is capable of doing on the offensive end.
.@ZachLaVine showed a lot of explosiveness tonight scoring 26 points and shooting 9-15 from the floor in loss to the Hornets pic.twitter.com/GxL5BDYt8e
— Chicago Bulls (@chicagobulls) October 9, 2018
Zach is going to a be a real terror this year to opposing defenses if he keeps being aggressive like this. It was all working for him last night. Lavine was able to get to the rim at will and when he couldn’t his jump shot was falling. All around a great game by the Chicago Bulls Shooting Guard.
Other than the obvious our bench played well again. Bobby Portis and Antonio Blakeney played well and Chandler Hutchison had his best game thus far. It will be interesting to see what happens when key rotation piece Denzel Valentine comes back from his ankle injury and where the bench goes from there.
Zach Lavine came to play last night. #Bulls
— ✶ ✶BuzzWeed✶ ✶ (@SMBuzzWeed) October 9, 2018
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