The Chicago Bulls: Mirage or Reality in the New Era?
In August 2024, before the start of the preseason, a group of Chicago Bulls players gathered in Miami for a minicamp led by the players themselves. This meeting marked a turning point, as the Bulls had been internally discussing the need to change their offensive playing style. To achieve this, the franchise began to make changes to its roster, including the departure of DeMar DeRozan, who was traded to Sacramento. In addition, in a demonstration of the new priorities of the management, Alex Caruso was sent to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for the young point guard Josh Giddey, 21 years old. The Bulls’ management believed that Giddey would be the engine of a new era for the team, based on a faster and more collective game. Coach Billy Donovan was aware of the challenge of changing the mindset of a team that played at a slow pace and relied heavily on the individual plays of DeRozan and Zach LaVine, the latter the subject of trade rumors until he was finally traded in 2025. Donovan, who had been wanting to implement a faster game with more ball movement for some time, devised a plan. Before the meeting in Miami, Donovan proposed something bold: What about playing the practice games with a 14-second possession clock?Despite the Bulls moving from 28th in pace of play in the 2023-24 season to second in 24-25, they finished with an identical 39-43 record and a third consecutive loss in the play-in tournament. However, the team believed that it had demonstrated a viable concept in the way they closed out the season (14-6 in the last 20 games of 2024-25), and that belief was reinforced by the Indiana Pacers’ run to the NBA Finals, fueled by their own fast-paced offense. This is how the style transformation in Chicago began. The results were notable: a promising start of 6-1 in the 2025-26 season, fueled by a top-10 pace of play and a top-five assist percentage, which thrilled the United Center for the first time in years. However, since then, the team has been losing steam, despite maintaining a high pace of play and a high assist percentage. With a 9-10 record, the Bulls have dropped from first place in the East to tenth, which puts them in their usual position of competing for the play-in. This raises a crucial question in Chicago: Did the Bulls really discover something last season and at the beginning of this one? Or was it just an illusion? Are they more of a 6-1 or a 3-9 team? During the surprising start of the season, team sources privately acknowledged the enthusiasm, but questioned its sustainability. A team member commented: “Let’s wait and see where we are in about 20 games.” The Pacers, the Bulls’ state rivals, staged an improbable run to the Finals, with a deep roster and a fast-paced style of play based on multiple ball handlers and ball movement. The Bulls analyzed their last 20 games of the 2024-2025 season. Then they observed the Pacers, their roster, their style, and saw a model of what they could be if they followed the same path.“At first, the players didn’t like it,” Donovan commented. “But I told them we had to start playing like this before the preseason. We can’t just run around the court for three weeks and expect to play this way in the preseason. I devised it so they would understand that we need to do it to be in good shape. Stylistically, this is how we are going to play.”
Billy Donovan
“They stole our energy,” said a Pacers source. “They said before the season they were going to emulate our style of play. Giddey playing the role of Tyrese. The fast pace, the comebacks in the final minutes, wearing down teams.” Several sources from the Bulls team acknowledged the similarities between what they are trying to build and the way Indiana built a contender, but with two major caveats: the Pacers played a more solid defense (they ranked 13th in defensive efficiency last season) and paired a second star with their point guard. “They have Haliburton, who is an All-Star, and they have Siakam,” said a Bulls source. “If Giddey can become an All-Star and be what Hali was, when will we pull the trigger to get our Siakam?” Giddey, for his part, spent the summer training six days a week at a gym near his home in Melbourne, Australia. He dedicated three days to individual exercises, with some key points: the 3-point shot, which had affected him in Oklahoma City; using his 6-foot-8-inch size to finish at the rim; and seeking contact to go to the free throw line. The other three days of the week were reserved for practice games in which Giddey would face one of the NBA’s elite defenders, his lifelong friend and Hawks guard, Dyson Daniels. Daniels and Giddey have known each other since they were 10 years old, from a youth basketball team in Melbourne.“That’s how we have to be,” Donovan said. “We have to be better than the sum of our parts. … Everyone watches Indiana play, and the first thing that comes to mind is their pace, their pace, their pace. What maybe isn’t recognized enough about the Pacers is that yes, they play very, very fast and [Tyrese] Haliburton is a unique playmaker, but the aggressiveness of those players on defense is where our evolution needs to continue.”
Billy Donovan
Chicago made the bold decision to acquire Giddey from Oklahoma City in June 2024, sending Caruso, a defensive stalwart and coveted role player, in a one-for-one trade that baffled many in the league due to the fact that the Bulls did not obtain additional draft compensation. A season later, the noise only amplified, as Caruso taught his younger Thunder teammates how to uncork the champagne bottles after winning the Finals. Despite the barrage of criticism the team received after the trade to acquire him, the Bulls still view Giddey, who turned 23 in October, as a core piece, according to team sources. “[Giddey] plays exactly how we want to play,” Bulls general manager Marc Eversley said after last year’s trade. Giddey rewarded the Bulls’ faith at the end of the 2024-25 season, and his rise has continued this season. He is averaging almost a triple-double with 20.5 points, 10.0 rebounds and 9.3 assists, and is shooting 39.2% from the 3-point line (a career best) and 6.0 free throws per game (a career best). “Being in Josh’s position, then being traded and having your team win the championship, that surely adds motivation,” Daniels said. “He plays hard every day, keeps his head down. He tries to win.” And just as the Bulls envisioned, Giddey’s focus on passing has become the Bulls’ identity. Chicago has eight players averaging double digits in points and ranks second in the league in scoring off the bench. The Bulls have the fifth-best assist percentage (68.5%) in the league, well above the 59% from 2023-24, before Giddey arrived, when they ranked 28th. Giddey couldn’t help but notice the similarities between the Bulls and the Pacers during last season’s playoffs, he said, but he also sees the gap that the Bulls are still trying to close. “If you look at the teams, they have a similar roster,” Giddey said. “Tyrese is obviously an incredible player, but they don’t have that superstar. They have a lot of very, very solid and good players. They defend collectively, and that’s an area where we need to improve.” Nikola Vučević issued a warning. After a surprising away victory against the Denver Nuggets, which ended a five-game losing streak, in which the Bulls had conceded an average of almost 130 points per game, Vučević needed a buzzer-beater to beat the Portland Trail Blazers on November 19 and close out a short West Coast trip. Two days later, the Bulls lost by 36 points at home against a Heat team that didn’t have Andrew Wiggins and Tyler Herro. The following night, the Bulls managed a one-point victory over the worst team in the NBA, the Washington Wizards, with a 2-16 record. A visibly frustrated Vučević gave a courtside interview after the victory against Washington on November 22, while his younger teammates celebrated behind him. Matas Buzelis, 21, jumped up and down. Jalen Smith, 25, rested his chin on Vučević’s shoulder. “Move, man,” Vučević finally blurted out. Vučević is in his 15th NBA season and his sixth in Chicago. At 35 years old, the two-time All-Star is the team’s most veteran player, with a five-year advantage. He said the Bulls were soft, that the way they were playing wasn’t conducive to winning. “We just don’t play up to NBA standards,” Vučević told reporters. “We talk about it, but I don’t think we really understand that it’s not sustainable to play this way. It’s just not always going to work in your favor. Sometimes, you’ll play well and be in close games. But, most of the time, if you keep playing this way, there will be bad losses after bad losses.” It was a point of view born of his years of experience. And it turned out to be prophetic almost immediately. In the following game, two nights later, the Bulls conceded 143 points to the New Orleans Pelicans, who were 27th in the league in offense. In their next game, they conceded 123 points to the Charlotte Hornets, who had lost nine of their last 10 games. On Saturday, they fell to a Pacers team depleted by a 16-foot shot from Siakam with a tenth of a second left. It was Indiana’s fourth win of the season. Chicago is now on a three-game losing streak against three teams that are likely destined for the lottery. Just a month ago, on November 1st, the Bulls were 5-0 and in first place in the Eastern Conference. On December 1st, they were back below .500. Chicago hasn’t been above .500 in early December since 2021. During their 6-1 start, the Bulls were seventh in offense and tenth in defense. But since then they are 23rd in offense and 23rd in defense. In that same period, the Bulls are conceding an average of 56.5 points in the paint, the third-most in the NBA. Chicago still considers Giddey, Coby White, and Matas Buzelis as their future core, according to team sources, along with rookie Noa Essengue, the 12th pick in the 2025 draft, who doesn’t turn 19 until the end of this month. He debuted last week, the last rookie lottery pick to do so. But the Bulls also know they need to keep adding to that core, according to team sources, and are prepared to do so. Chicago owns its own first-round draft picks for the next seven years and an additional protected 2026 first-round pick from Portland. The Bulls can trade up to five first-round picks and five second-round picks, and could have close to $70 million in cap space next offseason, according to ESPN’s Bobby Marks. The Bulls have held internal conversations about how to proceed, including conversations about Dallas Mavericks star Anthony Davis, according to sources, who they believe could help the team’s interior defense and rim protection. Davis is from Chicago, and the Bulls have three players on the roster (Ayo Dosunmu, Jevon Carter, and Buzelis) who grew up in the area, which is no coincidence. However, sources from the team said the Bulls will not sacrifice any of their key young players to execute such a deal until the team is closer to contention. “I don’t think going after a megastar X is the way to go, at least today,” said a source. White, the player with the most years on the team, has been present in the various iterations of the Bulls. He suffered the 22-win season and celebrated the 46-win one. He also suffered the last three: the 40, 39, and 39-win campaigns that ended in the play-in tournament. “The switch cannot be changed,” he said earlier this month. “Building a culture takes time. Building the way you want to play takes time. Building an identity takes time.”“We wanted to go against each other,” Daniels said, “to improve each other that way.”
Dyson Daniels
