Great write of Stephen! I am interested to see the defense against a better team, but the active hands sure seem like it will be good enough to be a league average defense at minimum. They probably will struggle with great 1on1 scorers, but that is likely more of a playoff problem at this point.
Even DeRozan seemed more active and aggressive than his reputation. It's a bummer that Ingram and Graham are out for the Pellies, may not get any more information on that defense.
Thanks for the breakdown Stephen, looking forward again this year to more of your great writing, hopefully about all the Bulls' successes this time! I think a lot of us fans are trying to temper our enthusiasm a bit because I was jumping off my coach during that first game. Maybe it was just the Cavs, maybe it was just preseason, but this team looked like they were on a different level than the Cavs and I can't remember the last time I said that about the Bulls. Even in big lead wins they rarely just blew the doors off any teams the last few years.
Are we looking at a team that hasn't just improved but has jumped an echelon or two up into competitive playoff team? They clearly need another piece to be championship contending but do you think this team could at least challenge those types of teams in a playoff series? Too early to say for sure but they certainly passed the eye test in that first game.
If they can keep up that passing and movement this is going to be a heck of a fun team to watch!
Great write of Stephen! I am interested to see the defense against a better team, but the active hands sure seem like it will be good enough to be a league average defense at minimum. They probably will struggle with great 1on1 scorers, but that is likely more of a playoff problem at this point.
Even DeRozan seemed more active and aggressive than his reputation. It's a bummer that Ingram and Graham are out for the Pellies, may not get any more information on that defense.
Thanks for the breakdown Stephen, looking forward again this year to more of your great writing, hopefully about all the Bulls' successes this time! I think a lot of us fans are trying to temper our enthusiasm a bit because I was jumping off my coach during that first game. Maybe it was just the Cavs, maybe it was just preseason, but this team looked like they were on a different level than the Cavs and I can't remember the last time I said that about the Bulls. Even in big lead wins they rarely just blew the doors off any teams the last few years.
Are we looking at a team that hasn't just improved but has jumped an echelon or two up into competitive playoff team? They clearly need another piece to be championship contending but do you think this team could at least challenge those types of teams in a playoff series? Too early to say for sure but they certainly passed the eye test in that first game.
If they can keep up that passing and movement this is going to be a heck of a fun team to watch!