The Runner Sports
Home / Cities / Chicago / Are The Bulls In Trouble?

Are The Bulls In Trouble?

Joakim-Noah-Chicago-Bulls-wallpaper

Everything seems to be unravelling for the Bulls. Not only are Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler, and Taj Gibson still out injured, but Joakim Noah recently missed a game because of knee soreness. Also, Head Coach Tom Thibodeau is still being linked to rumors that he is leaving after this season, and Tony Snell is coming back to earth a little bit (but still playing at a much improved level).

The Bulls are in the midst of a 4-7 stretch since Rose’s injury including 1-6 in their past 7 games. While I expected the Bulls offense to struggle without Rose, Butler, and Gibson, I didn’t expect them to falter so much defensively. In the past 10 games, the Bulls have an offensive rating of 99.1 and a defensive rating of 103.6. Last year without Rose, the Bulls sported ratings of 99.7 and 97.8 respectively and that was without Gasol.

Joakim Noah had been a major bright spot for the Bulls in the midst of all the injury adversity, but he had to sit Wednesday night against the 76ers with knee soreness and only played 24 minutes Friday night against the Hornets, with a team-worst minus 12 on the court. This has led some to believe his knee may be an issue for the rest of the season and could severely impact the Bulls. Fortunately, Noah came back and played well against the Thunder today, with 15 points and 7 assists.

Just when I thought things couldn’t get much worse, Grantland came out with an article about Tom Thibodeau potentially leaving after this season. Tom Thibodeau has been a fantastic coach for the Bulls, with a .646 winning percentage in his 4+ years as the Bull’s head coach. Until this year, every defense he had with the Bulls finished in the top 5 in defensive efficiency. He led the Bulls to the best record in the league his two years with a healthy Derrick Rose. Now he is rumored to be leaving the Bulls this summer if they don’t win the NBA title this year. After the past two weeks for the Bulls and now this rumor re-surfacing after a few weeks absent, things could not get much worse for the Chicago Bulls.

The game against Charlotte Friday night details even more problems beyond the injuries and rumors. The Bulls shot just 27.4% over the final 3 quarters of the game. Even more concerning is the fact that they were out-rebounded 55-36 and gave up 17 offensive rebounds and 27 second chance points. After the 101-91 loss to Charlotte in which the Bulls led by 19 after the first quarter, Thibodeau noted, “That was the difference in the game. So much of rebounding is your will and determination. Those guys are fighting for a playoff spot. The group in the second quarter was small but they went after it. We can’t rely on one or two guys. We have to have our whole team in there.” This is a problem that the Bull have not had before. Even when they were short-handed last year, they still played with effort and believed they could win. They rarely lost the rebounding battle. Now, today the Bulls were out-rebounded 52-33, giving up 17 offensive rebounds again. Hopefully, Joakim Noah’s knee issues are behind him and these two games were flukes, or else these Bulls are in trouble.

Now there are some positives for the Bulls. Both Nikola Mirotic and Doug McDermott look like potential difference makers in the future. Nikola Mirotic in particular looks like he can be a star in this league. He has averaged almost 18 points and 7 seven rebounds per game since Rose was injured. Tony Snell has fallen back to earth a little bit, but he is still playing far and away the best basketball of his young career.

Overall, the Chicago Bulls need to try to stay afloat until Rose, Butler, and Gibson get healthy. The Bulls still have a chance to make a deep playoff run, but they will need to be full strength when it counts. On the bright side, this could mark the first year in the Thibodeau era that the Bulls are completely healthy in the playoffs. In 2010-2011, Rose was dealing with turf-toe. In 2011-2012, Rose went down with a torn ACL, Luol Deng played through a torn wrist ligament, and Joakim Noah severely injured his ankle in the first round playoff series. In 2012-2013, Joakim Noah played through plantar fasciitis, Kirk Hinrich had a strained calf, Luol Deng had a spinal tap complication, and Nate Robinson was playing through the flu. Last year, the Bulls were relatively healthy except for Joakim Noah’s knee and D-Rose’s torn meniscus.

While its great that the Bulls could be completely healthy for the playoffs for the first time in the Thibodeau era, a big concern is that they’ve only had their starting lineup 19 times and therefore have not had the chance to build a rhythm and cohesiveness. One might argue that this has been the case every year for the Bulls, but there are differences. In 2010-2011, while the Bulls only had their preferred starting lineup for 29 games, they were only missing either Carlos Boozer or Joakim Noah for 49 of the other 53 games. 3 of the Bulls’ 5 starters played at least 81 games and all 5 of the team’s bench players played at least 80 games. Everyone had continuity going into the playoffs except for Boozer and Noah. In 2011-2012, the Bulls rarely had continuity throughout the season, but they had essentially the same team as the year before. The best comparison to this year is 2012-2013 when the Bulls struggled to stay healthy the entire year, but still won a first round playoff series. In 2013-2014, the Bulls used their preferred starting lineup 42 times throughout the regular season, yet lost in the playoffs. Based on the Bulls track record, they do not need too much playing time to build a solid rhythm, but with essentially two new players in the starting lineup this year (Pau Gasol and Derrick Rose), that may be easier said than done.

Keep in mind that this cohesiveness that I am talking about does not even take into account how each player develops his own rhythm following injury. It could take Derrick Rose 2 months to play at the level he’d been playing or he could be back in stride from day 1. How quickly Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler, Taj Gibson, and potentially Joakim Noah get to full speed is what will determine whether the Bulls are actually in trouble. If the Bulls have their full roster two weeks before the regular season ends and build a rhythm before the playoffs, no one will want to play these Bulls. Unfortunately, as it has been for the last 4 seasons, that is a big IF.

Author: Patrick Murphy

Former collegiate swimmer at the University of Notre Dame with an unhealthy addiction for sports. I spend too much of my free time analyzing advanced statistics about the Chicago Bulls.