The Bulls played in their first game in 275 days last night. During those 275 days, the Bulls made quite a few changes. They have a new front office staff, coaching staff, and player development staff. Last night was the first time the Bulls have hit the floor after all of those changes. The Bulls welcomed the Houston Rockets to the United Center for their first of two preseason games against them. The Bulls came out of the gates slow and never caught back up. The final score read 125-104. While it’s just a preseason game that didn’t stop new Bulls head coach Billy Donovan from being upset about the outcome.
"We got our ass kicked in."
– Chicago Bulls HC Billy Donovan(Via Bulls FB Live)
— Daniel Greenberg (@ChiSportUpdates) December 12, 2020
Donovan is 100% correct with that short assessment. The Bulls simply weren’t ready last night and it showed. The good thing here is this is just the preseason. The Bulls are coming off a 275-day break from basketball and they looked slow. The good thing is there are A LOT of teachable moments coming out of this game.
Billy Donovan: "We didn’t guard the ball well enough. We didn’t help well enough. And we didn’t block out well enough. We have to build those habits."
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) December 12, 2020
There were quite a few defensive miscues. We aren’t going to overreact here, we are just going to observe some areas that didn’t look too great.
The Defense
One of the Bull’s biggest struggles last year was the defense. They ranked in the bottom 5 of the NBA in a lot of defensive categories last season. Last night appeared to be no different. The Bulls perimeter defense simply put was not good. The Bulls let the Rockets shoot 46% from the three-point line last night. If you look at just the points scored in the first half the Bulls let the Rockets get off to a quick start which continued through the half. In the first quarter, the Bulls allowed the Rockets to score 37 points and then followed that up with a 31 quarter for the Rockets in the 2nd. They simply weren’t stopping the Rockets from executing their gameplan.
John Wall fakes right and then easily blows by Coby White and the help defense is nonexistent. #ChicagoBulls pic.twitter.com/JQG6mgLEsF
— Hoop Informatics (@HoopInformatics) December 12, 2020
While there are plenty of clips to come from last night we need to remember yet again this is still the preseason. These mistakes create teachable moments for this young team. They have 10 days and 3 more preseason games to take this in and make adjustments.
Although the defense was poor it was good to see Rookie Patrick Williams on the defensive end. His defense already looked to translate to the NBA last night. While he wasn’t perfect his first game looked pretty good on the defensive end.
Patrick Williams not letting John Wall go past him pic.twitter.com/K8m72GXseB
— Gustavo (@iamvega1982) December 12, 2020
The Bulls will surely use these next few games to work on their defense. Don’t overreact Bulls fans this team still needs to shake off the rust.
The Offense
The Bulls offense also wasn’t great to watch last night. The main issue for them was turnovers. As a team, they committed 20 turnovers. As a team, they shot 41.3% from the floor and 32.4% from three-point range. In all honesty, they looked rusty. The team looked like a team that hadn’t played a game in 275 days. One thing Bulls fans were excited to see was center Wendell Carter Jr. expanding his game out to the three-point line. Well, he showcased that last night and it didn’t turn out so great.
Wendell Carter Jr. on 0-5 from 3: "They felt good. I know I'm a good shooter."
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) December 12, 2020
Again, this is a preseason game but to go 0-5 from three-point isn’t a great look. He’s going to have to start making some in the next 3 preseason games to make Bulls fans feel better about him stepping out to the three in a game. While the offense looked rough there were still some bright spots in last night’s preseason game.
Patrick Williams
The Bulls draft pick this year Patrick Williams looked quite comfortable in the game last night. He logged 25 minutes and in that time he scored 12 points and had 3 rebounds. He looked comfortable on the floor and didn’t let this first game get to him. His offense will get better in time but last night he was 5-9 from the floor. Donovan liked how Williams performed last night.
Donovan on Williams: “He has a really good feel for the game. He doesn’t force shots.”
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) December 12, 2020
Williams seemed to let the game come to him which is a good thing to see from a rookie. Sometimes rookies hop in the game and try to play as they did in college which doesn’t end well for most. Williams looked good, let’s hope to see that continue throughout the preseason to keep the confidence high.
On to the next one
The Bulls need to go back through the tape and take in as much as they can from this first game. This is where the new Bulls coaching staff sets the tone for the season. There were a lot of spots where the team can improve. Some of them are due to the team being off for so long and some are due to the youth of this team. There will be no overreactions during the preseason. We will still review how the team did but until we get into the regular season there’s still plenty of time to improve.
Me looking at the Bulls score.
vs.
Me looking at the Bulls score and remembering they haven’t played in 9 months and it’s only the first preseason game. pic.twitter.com/5L50bP5lbH
— Bleacher Nation Bulls (@BN_Bulls) December 12, 2020
