The Mercuri-Bulls
Across a 9-7, Chicago has managed to fall back into its recognizably mediocre patterns. However, they're even stranger than in years past.
With roughly six seconds left in regulation and Chicago leading Washington 121-120, the Wizards’ Kyshawn George receives an inbound pass out of a timeout. A timeout that came after Coby White, the Bulls’ clutch scorer emeritus, narrowly missed a back-breaking step-back three. Any bucket wins the game.
Hundreds of games come down to the final possession every season. Much like a toddler recounting the dialogue of every scene in their incessantly viewed favorite Pixar movie (Finding Nemo twice a day, every day in 2006) we take the end of game for granted. Fight for the inbound. Heroic make, tragic miss, blunderous foul or clock expiration. Even a turnover makes sense; it’s a one-point game, of course they’re going for the ball.
But don’t forget, this is the 2025-26 Chicago Bulls. George - Washington’s best initiator (Mariana Trench low bar, granted) - gets doubled, Tre Jones goes for the ball. Pirouettes and falls. Throws it out of bounds.
Drive home safely. A Bullsian cherry on top: they were down 8 in the fourth quarter against a team that has now lost 14 in a row.
Observers will note that Chicago being middling is predictable. Sunrise-esque. While those thoughts are well-founded, this season’s start has actually been aberational versus years past. These Bulls are 9-7, compared to 6-10 last season, 5-11 the year before, and 6-10 the year before. They’ve started stronger, despite missing White for all but three games, facing a relatively difficult schedule, and having a -37 point differential.
A win is a win, but none of it feels sustainable. Nikola Vučević agrees.
“We just didn’t play up to NBA standards,” Vučević said. “We talked about it. I don’t think we understand that it’s just not sustainable to play this way.”
Vooch also expressed visible consternation at Matas Buzelis and Jalen Smith’s elation during his on-court interview. “C’mon! Be happy man!” jeered Smith. Vučević’s years germinating on the perennially eighth-seeded Orlando Magic has granted him prescience. In his words, this is isn’t sustainable. Buzelis and Smith have a point in wanting to take solace in victory. But them shooting a combined 8/24, the team giving up 41 points in the first quarter, and being bailed out by timely shots and defensive play by veterans is pretty microcosmic of the issues at hand.
It takes a complete game in the NBA. Games that come down to the clutch (defined as within five points with five minutes or less in the game) are amongst the most volatile situations in the league. The Bulls have played 11 such contests, going an admirable 7-4. And late game execution matters! This wacky team has just started to even frustrate its own. To again quote a wise, block-jawed scholar, “It’s just not sustainable to play this way.”
They’re also not particularly good in overarching metrics. Chicago ranks in the top 10 of the league in shooting efficiency from three and the mid-range, but is 28th at the rim. They’re 20th in offensive rating, per Cleaning the Glass. And 20th in defensive rating. And have been worse in both the last two weeks, when their schedule has ostensibly softened up. Highlighting Vooch’s appraisal that they’re also “soft,” they also do not force turnovers and - on a rate basis - don’t grab a lot of offensive rebounds.
Simultaneously, Chicago is the NBA’s boot-and-rally all-star. Down 19 at half to Philly? No matter. Double-overtime loss to a Utah team begging for an excuse to trade Lauri Markkanen? Just to beat Jokic the next night? You think they called the Uber home, but they beat you to the next bar. At lot of this bears out in their game plan - and offers a good rebuttal that their “substandard” play is a feature, not a bug.
They get out in transition so much, and create so many extra possession to allow Bulls entropy to take hold and swing games in their favor. They’re second in pace but also first in passes made, second in rebounds per game purely from volume, and are third in percentage of shots taken in the first six seconds of the shot clock (19.1%). They’re creating so many possessions, and living with the results. Not a bad strategy on its surface. The Bulls have a similar skeleton to a mid-major college program on a Cinderella run in March. Moving fast and breaking things with a rabbit’s foot on standby in the fourth. They emanate a desperation late in games that is needed the entire game. Far more qualified people agree.
“We’re not talented enough not to play desperate,” head coach Billy Donovan said, after a recent loss to the Pistons. “If we don’t play that way, we are not good enough to stay in games.”
Those Pistons, while the creme de la East, were missing almost their entire starting five. Consistently competing against NBA teams - not even the good ones - requires accurate self-appraisal. What are we best at? Where do we find our edge? Donovan is honing in on that, even as frustrations with the finer points have grown.
Donovan knows his players’ strengths. After acquiring Josh Giddey two seasons ago, Chicago jumped from bottom three to top three the following season. Vučević is back to making jumpers, and has been trusted to win multiple games on last-second threes. Buzelis’ has been deployed to great effect on defense and put in a position to succeed on offense, even after cooling from a torrid start. Coby White is back and doing cool stuff again!
People love a sideshow. Chicago has been magnificently weird for viewers and (apparently) dramatically exasperating for some of the team. Drama!
How do we fix the Chicago? As a fan, fix what? A team with no hope for a championship or the lottery (blocking that out in the furthest recesses of my psyche) should be resplendent in its oddities. Would you ask Michelangelo to use duller paint on the Sistine Chapel?
For those with an interest in winning? It starts with defense and rim protection. Chicago has resolved to allow the most shots at the rim in the league - by a lot - in favor of preventing threes. It’s sort of worked, but Vučević was never a rim protector and isn’t going to become more of one at 35. Jalen Smith isn’t prepared to be an consistent interior deterrent. Finding a middle ground that takes advantage of Buzelis and some of their guards’ perimeter defense skills in relief of constantly allowing shots at the rim might be worth examining, otherwise Vooch urgently needs help down low.
Beyond technical suggestions, hope the message takes for the young guys. Buzelis looks like a future All-Star. White is still young and really good. Noah Essengue is banished to Mordor, but might be additive if locked-in on defense, at least. Above all else, find urgency earlier. Talent might be there - not enough to not be desperate.