It’s not a trick of the imagination.
The Chicago Bulls have won eight of their last 10 games. Their success is propelled by a thunderous series of performances from Coby White, who became the first Bulls player since Michael Jordan to earn back-to-back Eastern Conference Player of the Week awards.
This has not been an easy season. But when White is ripping off 3-pointers, Matas Buzelis is throwing down hammer dunks and Josh Giddey is posting triple-doubles with apparent ease, it’s hard not to start believing in something.
So what’s going on?
Are the Bulls good now? And after everything that has happened in the last year — losing DeMar DeRozan, finally trading Zach LaVine — what would that even mean?
In the last 10 games, the Bulls have painted a hopeful picture of how they could — theoretically — dominate the Eastern Conference. They have led the league with 122.5 points per game and posted the third-most assists (29.2). On paper, this team is functionally better after trading LaVine.
It helps to have a formula for adjustment. The Bulls’ 3-point shooting took an unsurprising dive after LaVine’s trade, dropping to 36% for 14.8 makes per game after the All-Star break. To offset that loss, the Bulls have committed to a simple, brutal ethos: run.
Over the past 10 games, the Bulls have posted the fourth-highest pace (102.45 possessions per game) in the NBA while scoring the most points (22.7) in the league on the fast break.
“I feel like we’re the best conditioned team in the league,” Buzelis said after Saturday’s win in Los Angeles. “Guys get tired of playing us. I hear it all the time on the court. They’re like, ‘Man, y’all just keep running.’”
The Bulls aren’t just winning the open floor. During that 10-game stretch, the Bulls averaged the second-most points in the paint (59.0) while taking the seventh-most drives (52.2) in the entire league. This relentless tone is set by two players: White and Giddey.
The two backcourt stars have redefined expectations for themselves over this run. White has averaged the seventh-most points (30.6) in the league over those 10 games. Giddey posted the third-most assists (9.7) and came two steals shy of posting a quadruple-double in Los Angeles. White strung together three consecutive 35-point games.
The Bulls are winning. White and Giddey are playing the best basketball of their lives. Young players up and down the roster have bought into a grueling style of play that rewards effort above all else.
So why the hesitation to buy in?
The context of those wins doesn’t exactly help the Bulls make their case. March is an amorphous period of the NBA calendar when teams accept their fates. This month is always balanced between heavyweights taking their foot off the gas pedal and bottom feeders simply giving up.
A pessimist could poke holes in many of the Bulls’ recent wins. They barely overcame the Denver Nuggets without Nikola Jokić. They caught teams like the Sacramento Kings on the second night of back-to-backs. And despite a smattering of top Western Conference opponents, the Bulls’ strength of schedule is one of the lightest in the league.
A pessimist could also point out that despite this furious flurry of wins, the Bulls are still stuck as the ninth seed in the Eastern Conference. But this is a slight improvement — if the Bulls hold this seed, they will host their first play-in tournament game rather than traveling to Miami yet again.
The Orlando Magic still hold a two-game advantage for the No. 8 spot even after the Bulls stacked wins on their West Coast trip, leaving a slim margin for the Bulls to move up and contest for a higher seed in the final 10 games of the regular season.
Pessimism is crucial to setting expectations for the future. This is not going to last. The Bulls have been entirely reliant upon career-high stretches from White and Giddey to maintain winning. Both players are historically streaky in offensive production, which means the bottom is all but guaranteed to drop out eventually. When that does happen, the Bulls remaining roster offers nonexistent depth and minimal firepower.
The sustainability of the Bulls’ current model can only be tested — or proven — with time. The first step is using these final games to contest for seventh or eighth in the East, a move that would propel the Bulls into contention for the No. 7 overall seed in the playoffs.
Even if they finally advance through the NBA Play-In Tournament, these Bulls still aren’t any better positioned for the playoffs than they were the past four seasons. And given the battered and beleaguered state of the rest of the East’s play-in contenders, the front office would be foolish to view the currently assembled roster as a long-term blueprint for success.
Still, the Bulls are fun to watch again. And that has to be worth something — even if it doesn’t last.
