Chicago Bulls starting 5 earns brutal assessment

For a little bit, it looked like the Chicago Bulls were destined for greatness. A 6-1 start has all but completely crumbled, and their lineup has turned back into a pumpkin. What most people thought about the Bulls before the season is playing out while Coby White sits with an injury. The hot start may have been fool’s gold, and this lineup may just not be all that good. At least, that’s one analyst’s take on the situation.

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The starting lineup of Tre Jones, Josh Giddey, Isaac Okoro, Matas Buzelis, and Nikola Vucevic has not been very good. The net rating on that unit is -13.1. They’re getting blown out when on the floor, which is surprising given how solid the Bulls have been. Even if they’ve slipped recently, they’re still 6-5 on the season. According to Grant Hughes with Bleacher Report, the starting lineup, which earned a D, is not at all responsible.

“When this group is on the floor, the offense is a complete four-quadrant failure. Its shooting is abysmal, it turns the ball over almost 20.0 percent of the time, it never grabs offensive rebounds and it can’t get to the foul line,” Hughes wrote. “The only bright spot is that opponents have actually shot with roughly average accuracy on threes against Chicago’s starters, a departure from its other lineups’ unsustainable good luck on the opponent shooting front.”

The Bulls have one loss at home, but the 5-0 start looks like a distant memory at this point. Still, Giddey is almost averaging a triple-double. Vucevic is shooting almost 50% on his three-point attempts. Buzelis clearly looks like an impactful player already in year two. The numbers when those guys, and others, are on the floor together, though, paint an ugly picture.

“The numbers say the Bulls’ starters, together, have been awful to this point. The team’s worst quarter, by point differential, has consistently been the first,” Hughes added. “Despite deserving something in the ‘B’ range as a team, we can’t reward a starting group that routinely gets hammered with a good grade.” The Bulls have some talent in the lineup, but they’ve not been able to outperform other starting fives without Coby White. Unfortunately, he won’t do anything to help the defense when he returns.

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