There certainly have been some moments during the preseason and training camp.
They might not have been enough for Bulls coach Billy Donovan, but his players have time on their side. There’s time to continue emphasizing physical play on defense; there’s time for more focus on rim protection — they had nine blocks in the loss to the Nuggets on Tuesday.
With only one preseason game left, however, Donovan wants more than moments. He wants defensive consistency.
And if you need a reminder for why this defensive emphasis is essential, just rewind to the Bulls’ last meaningful game.
“Physicality is a big part of the NBA, and we kind of saw that in that play-in game,” guard Josh Giddey said.
Ah, yes, the play-in game against the Heat on April 16.
The Bulls strutted in, knowing they had swept the Heat in three regular-season showdowns, but were systematically dismantled possession by possession.
The Heat scored 39 points by the end of the first quarter and followed that up with a 32-point second quarter. It didn’t matter that the Bulls’ defense finally showed some pride in the third quarter, holding the Heat to 17 points.
“Miami was ready to go,” Giddey said. “They brought it to us. We were on our back foot from the jump. It’s not about hitting blokes. Physicality comes in many different ways.
‘‘We have to be the team to throw the first punch and get the opposing team on their back foot, so what that looks like every night, it’s going to be different, but physicality is a part of it.”
Even Bulls executive vice president Arturas Karnisovas, who’s responsible for the soft roster, stated the obvious about how the 2024-25 season ended.
“We saw what happened in the play-in game, and the level of physicality went up, and we couldn’t handle it,” Karnisovas said. “There are very specific things we need to do this year.”
So where are they?
It was easy to give the Bulls a pass for the first preseason game in Cleveland, considering it was the exhibition opener and all.
Donovan had to call a timeout after an 18-6 run by the Cavaliers to start the game, and the defense did improve somewhat, but 37 points allowed in the first quarter was not a good look.
On Sunday against the Bucks, the Bulls allowed 35 points in the first quarter, then they allowed 37 in the first quarter against the Nuggets.
Second-year forward Matas Buzelis was impressive with five of those nine blocks against Denver, but with so many other holes to plug, the weakness on defense is becoming a concern.
Same old Bulls.
That’s why there are still some unanswered questions looming over the preseason finale Thursday against the Timberwolves. Was the addition of Isaac Okoro enough, and is this simply a work in progress that will get better?
Reserve guard Ayo Dosunmu has his own theory. He believes defense is a choice the Bulls have to make.
“This being my fifth year, I think we had pretty good defensive teams at times,” Dosunmu said. “At times, we’ve been poor defensively. We weren’t connected; we weren’t physical.
‘‘But there have been times where we’ve played lockdown defense, been connected, we were rebounding. I think the main thing this team needs to do is do all those things but do them at a consistent level. Not picking and choosing.”
