7 Reasons the Chicago Bulls Have the Best Defense in the NBA

The Chicago Bulls have the best defense in the NBA. That's a pretty provable statement. Last season they gave up 100.3 points per 100 possessions, the lowest efficiency against in the NBA. Their opponents had an effective field-goal percentage of just .463, also the lowest in the NBA. 

So why are the Bulls so successful on the defensive end of the court? There is no "one" reason—it's a combination of the right system and the right players to fit the system. Here are the seven key reasons that they are on top. 

The Bench Mob

The "Bench Mob," as they came to be known, was the best defensive bench in the game and that's no coincidence. The Bulls bench has some outstanding defenders.

You could make an argument that the Bulls have three players on the bench who are among the five best in the league defensively. Ronnie Brewer, Taj Gibson and Omer Asik are all players that would be on the radar for All-Defense if they were starters. 

In fact, in the 623 minutes those three players were on the court together, they gave up just 90 points per 100 possessions, or about 79.3 points per game. They might be able to score like some other benches, but they don't need to.

When those three were on the court together they outscored their opponents by an average of 9.4 points per 48 minutes. The Bench Mob were the best defensive bench in the league and a big part of why the Bulls were the best defense in the league. 

Communication

Carlos Boozer is a player that even a blind person can follow—literally. You can hear him yelling over the TV as easily as you can see him on it. The man has some vocal chords. 

Communication is a critical aspect to the Bulls' defensive schemes. Either through the bellowing Boozer or the more subtle guidance of the deliberate Deng, the Bulls play a "five men on a string" defense that requires the players to keep in constant contact with one another. 

It's all about the help defense, which requires the players to keep talking to one another. In war, the key to any good national defense is communicating and the same is true of basketball. The Bulls' relatedness to one another and willingness to ask for, accept and provide help is the key to the system working effectively. 

On Court Coaching

Brian Scalabrine is not just on the team because it's fun to chant his name when games get out of hand. He's there almost as much as a player coach as anything else. His familiarity with the system comes from playing with the Boston Celtics, where Thibodeau had run the system before. 

Keith Bogans also knew the system from when he was with Houston in 2006. 

These players, both veterans, bring their familiarity and veteran leadership as much to practice as they do to the game and perhaps beyond that. Scalabrine and Bogans might not be going to the All-Star Game unless they buy tickets, but they are still valuable members of the team because of their player-coach contributions.  

Joakim Noah

How good is Joakim Noah? Carlos Boozer had the seventh lowest defensive rating in the NBA last season, that's how good he is!

Deng is strictly amazing. Game 5 against the Heat was one of the most amazing defensive performances I've ever seen, even though the Bulls lost. It seemed Noah was essentially guarding all three of the Big Three. I know that you're not supposed to say anything good about anyone on the losing team "because they lost," but in today's world "losing" and "playing well" are mutually exclusive things.

Over the series Noah defended the Big Three on a total of 44 plays, and on those plays they combined for 32 points. 

What makes Noah so spectacular is his athleticism for a center. How many players in the NBA can effectively defend Dwyane Wade in isolation and Dwight Howard in the post?

I can assure you, if you came up with another name, he's a great NBA defender.  

Derrick Rose

Derrick Rose is a premiere defender in the NBA. If you think otherwise, you're still thinking of the 2009 version of him. He grew more defensively last season than he did offensively—and he grew a lot offensively.

Some question his pick-and-roll defense and his commitment to defense. They say that stats can be misleading and say they watch the games. My question to them is how can you be watching the games and seeing something that is provably untrue?

Derrick Rose fights through picks like a man possessed. He continuously improved on that throughout the season. After the All-Star break he gave up only .69 points per play against the pick and roll, an incredibly low number.

There are those who are quick to dismiss this (without any evidence) as "help defense." While it's true that good numbers are sometimes just a result of help defense, such claims need more backing than a sweeping assumption. 

I went and looked at just the plays where he was defending Dwyane Wade on the pick and roll during the playoffs. I picked Wade because he is one of the premier players in the NBA at scoring off the pick and roll, averaging .94 points per play when he runs it.

On 13 plays where he ran it against Rose, he scored four points. He made one field goal and made two of two from the line. On the other 11 plays, he actually got past Rose only four times.

On one of those four times, Wade traveled to get around him and got whistled for it. On two Rose got back and forced the turnover. On one he got inadvertently screened by his own player and still managed to recover enough to challenge the shot and force the miss.

If he can be effective guarding arguably the best player in the league at scoring off the pick and roll, don't you think he can guard others as well? Bear in mind that Rose had 576 picks run on him this season. As far as I can find, no one else even had 500. 

That's only part of his defense though. The thing that really stands out with Rose is his ability to get to the perimeter and challenge jump shots. Even when he's caught 15 feet away, if a perimeter player gets the ball and goes into his shooting motion, Rose will burst like a sprinter off the block to get to the shooter before he can even finish his motion. 

He consistently closes 15-foot gaps quicker than a shooter takes to get a shot off. If you don't think that Rose is a good defender, the next time you watch the Bulls, watch how quickly he gets to the shooter. That's why his field-goal percentage allowed on the spot-up is only 32.2 percent. 

Rose's numbers are not the mere product of playing on a great defensive team. His team's great defense is in large part a product of his great play. The entire scheme is cut off penetration, force the outside shot and challenge that shot. 

Luol Deng

Luol Deng is the Bulls' stopper. Time and time again he's come out and locked down the best players on the other team in big moments. He is arguably the second best defensive small forward in the league.

His points per play against opponents field-goal percentages are near identical across the board to Andre Iguodala's, who was the second-team All-Defense selection, though Deng was the responsible defender on more than 500 more plays—1,185 to 671.

Deng was the primary defender on more plays than any player for the Bulls. He often guarded out of position. He was the Bulls' defensive MVP.

Some casually suggest that the Bulls ought to trade him for a greater offensive talent, but what he means to the Bulls goes far beyond what his offense brings. He's the pulse of the Bulls defense.   

Tom Thibodeau

Last season the top two defenses in the league were Chicago the Boston Celtics, Tom Thibodeau's former team. 

In my player-by-player rankings of the shooting guards in the NBA, Thibodeau has coached the top two point guards and the top two shooting guards. 

He may be a rookie coach, but his defensive legacy goes back a very long way. This is the first time he's had the opportunity to help pick the players he wants to run his system though. As impressive as the team he has put together is, the primary reason they are where they are is Tom Thibodeau.