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Highlighting the Bulls' poor offensive showing thus far
The Bulls have started the season winning only three of their first nine games. After not making many off-season acquisitions, last year's 24th-ranked overall offense needed to make big strides to start the year, which it has yet to do. Despite a 51-point performance by Zach Lavine in just the third game of the season, the game ended in a loss, characterizing the Bulls season so far.
What the Numbers Say
Through the first two weeks of the season, the Bulls rank 22nd in Offensive Rating with 108.8 and 23rd in net rating with a rating of -5.1. However, the Bulls turnover percentage is the best in the league, which makes the offensive struggle puzzling.
The Bulls rank 28th in assists (22.6 per game), 24th in 3-pointers attempted (31.1 per game), and 26th in 3-pointers made (10.9 per game). Their free throw attempts are pretty much the same too, averaging 20.3 per game (23rd overall) and making 16 per game (19th overall).
Additionally, the rebounding on both sides of the ball has been better than last season, yet the Bulls can't pull the wins together. Center Nikola Vucevic recorded the first Bulls 20/20 game since Pau Gasol in 2014 last week, but again it wasn't enough to get the Bulls past the Mavericks.
Shooting Better Shots
With the least amount of turnovers per game, the offense must find a way to score. With the 25th overall field goal percentage throughout the league, the Bulls must either find higher percentage shots to score or simply shoot better. In the Bulls' recent loss to the Suns, head coach Billy Donovan spoke out about the game's final shoot.
"When the double-team comes, you gotta get off of it," Donovan said, "but there was no trap for Demar, he had open room and space to make a play."
The quote characterizes the Bulls so far this year, as it seems the team is making the right decisions with the ball, but they can't find a way to win.
