The Chicago Bulls have continuity and last year may have been an aberration
The Bulls basically played .500-ball in 2022 after Ball went down with a knee injury. Then, most experts had the Bulls winning 38-42 games last season. Chicago ended up winning 40 games. Still, many (including myself) believe the Bulls underachieved last year,
Karnišovas has stressed the importance of roster continuity and chemistry during his time in Chicago. He decided to bring back his “big three” (DeRozan, LaVine, Vučević) for one more run. We have seen continuity work on the FIBA level with various National teams that grew up playing together. The chemistry of the Spanish National Team is a good example.
Continuity is not something that typically describes today’s NBA with the amount of player movement that occurs. Does it mean something historically? Sure. You do need chemistry to win in the NBA.
The Bulls’ brass is also banking on last season being a down year for the team. Zach LaVine got off to a slow start coming off a knee procedure. Coby White too started slowly and posted the lowest scoring average of his four-year career. Patrick Williams deferred too much to DeRozan and LaVine – who often played too much hero-ball throughout the year.
This is a Bulls team that seems to genuinely like each other. Most of the roster has been together for two or three years now. It may not mean much in terms of wins, but it must count for something.
Artūras Karnišovas and Marc Eversley are banking on it.