Predicting the Biggest Changes We'll See from the Chicago Bulls This Season
After a summer full of clever roster moves, the Chicago Bulls will undergo a few changes this season.
The team picked up free agents Pau Gasol and Aaron Brooks, as well as highly touted rookies Doug McDermott and Nikola Mirotic. This quartet—along with Derrick Rose, Joakim Noah and others—clearly make the Bulls a force to be reckoned with in the Eastern Conference.
Rose, who has missed a bunch of games due to knee injuries, is healthy and could return to his 2011 MVP form. Reigning Defensive Player of the Year Noah is primed for another amazing campaign, and Gasol serves as Chicago's best low-post threat in years.
This is head coach Tom Thibodeau’s fifth season with the Bulls. Ever since his arrival, the team has played top-notch, stifling defense on a daily basis. And that won't change this year. What are some changes we'll see from Thibodeau's troops in 2014-15?
Place More Emphasis on Three-Point Shooting
Last season, outside shooting was basically nonexistent for the Bulls. They attempted just 17.8 threes per game, which ranked 28th in the league. And they hit only 34.8 percent of those attempts (ranked 24th).
Things will be different this time around, though. With Rose and Gasol drawing double-teams, shooters like Mike Dunleavy, McDermott and Mirotic will get a bunch of open looks all year long.
McDermott could emerge as the Bulls’ best three-point shooter, even in his first year. The Creighton University product hit 44.4 percent of his attempts in the summer league and is shooting 35.3 percent in the preseason, which is respectable for a rookie.
He’ll have a field day from beyond the arc as Rose drives and kicks it to him, or when he receives a pinpoint pass from Noah or Gasol.
Rose can also be an outside threat, although you wouldn’t have noticed watching him during the FIBA World Cup. He hit only one of his 19 attempts.
However, he is shooting 40 percent from downtown this preseason. The three-time All-Star went 3-of-4 vs. the Milwaukee Bucks.
Expect the Bulls to go from one of the league's worst three-point shooting teams last season to somewhere in the middle of the pack this year.
10-Man Rotation
The words “10-Man Rotation” and “Tom Thibodeau” look really weird in the same sentence. As everybody knows, Thibs has been known for giving his starters a boatload of minutes instead of using the bench.
For example, Jimmy Butler played a franchise-record 60 minutes against the Orlando Magic last January. Yes, you read that right. It would be understandable if it was Game 7 of the NBA Finals. But it was a regular-season contest against a lowly, rebuilding team.
Per Nick Friedell of ESPN Chicago, Thibodeau prefers a nine-man rotation:
"Usually most teams are around nine," he said. "And then as the playoffs get closer, you're going to pare that down some more. We'll see. My first two years we played nine, sometimes 10. Ten is hard, most likely nine."
While Thibodeau said going 10-deep is difficult, he didn’t say it was impossible. Look for him to utilize his much-improved bench this season. There’s way too much talent not to.
So which 10 players will crack the rotation? Well, we know Rose, Noah, Gasol, Butler, Taj Gibson, Dunleavy and Kirk Hinrich are locks. Expect Brooks to also make the cut, replacing D.J. Augustin as a scoring backup point guard.
McDermott and Mirotic will be everyday players as well. Thibodeau isn’t a fan of playing one rookie, let alone two. Yet, when you have two rookies who can shoot the lights out like these guys, you have to play them both.
That means Tony Snell, E’Twaun Moore, Nazr Mohammed and Cameron Bairstow are left in the cold, unless a key player suffers an injury (knock on wood).
Doug McDermott Will Start at Small Forward
Not only is McDermott a rotational player, but he’ll also be a rookie starter. Dunleavy, of course, will begin the year as Chicago’s starting small forward. But McDermott will supplant the veteran at some point this season.
He's just too good to sit on the bench, and Thibodeau will eventually realize that.
One of college basketball’s greatest scorers ever, McDermott averaged 26.7 points during his senior year. And as Bleacher Report’s Zach Buckley points out, he can score in a variety of ways:
"He has an underrated knack for creating his own shots, which will be a valuable tool when he isn't logging minutes beside Rose, Gasol or Noah. McDermott is capable of taking defenders off the dribble, comfortable banging with them on the low block and crafty getting himself to the free-throw line, where he was an 87.0 percent shooter his final two seasons at Creighton.
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Putting the ball in the hoop isn’t the only thing McDermott can do. He rebounds, moves well without the ball and is an underrated passer. And although he isn’t a lockdown defender by any means, he does show effort on that end of the floor.
McDermott has started twice this preseason with Dunleavy sitting out due to knee soreness.
Per Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, Thibodeau hasn’t ruled out starting him on a more permanent basis:
"I don’t want to overlook what Mike’s done either. Mike has shot the ball extremely well, so I think he helps that first unit function well, so I’m not locked into it, but I don’t want to … Mike’s team defense is outstanding. I don’t want to overlook that. You have to think about you’re guarding a starter now, so that does make a difference.
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McDermott will ultimately win his coach over and replace Dunleavy in the starting lineup by Christmas.
Bulls fans, get used to hearing this before games: “A 6'8" forward from Creighton…No. 3…Doug McDermott!"
All stats are from Basketball-Reference.com.
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