How DeMar DeRozan, Lonzo Ball (And Yes, Caruso) Shape The New-Look Chicago Bulls
By: Michael Walton Ii
Tags: Basketball, NBA, Lonzo Ball, Sports, Chicago Bulls

How DeMar DeRozan, Lonzo Ball (And Yes, Caruso) Shape The New-Look Chicago Bulls

AP Photo/Darren Abate

Bulls Vice President of Basketball Operations Arturas Karnisovas was quoted in March as saying “we’re not done,” in reference to the Bulls roster. Following Chicago’s surprising in-season acquisition of All-Star center Nikola Vucevic, AK promised more moves, and through the first few days of free agency, it’s fair to say that the Bulls have had the most high-profile offseason.

So now that the initial shock is over, it’s time to breakdown exactly how the Bulls will be a winning team with this new-look roster — at the time of this writing, Lauri Markkanen is still a restricted free agent with Chicago — and what challenges stand in the way of wins for a Bulls roster that is clearly improved no matter how you look at it.

Perimeter Defense Is Suddenly……A Strength?

Calling perimeter defense a “strength” for the Bulls is probably a step too far but the big point here is the Chicago front office really improved the team’s perimeter defense in one offseason.

Lonzo Ball is a great defender and everyone knows this. The debate comes over just how good of a defender Ball is. Lonzo — as pointed out by my colleague Matt Moore — is not the greatest point of attack (POA) defender, but he is excellent as a help defender.

Ball has an extremely high basketball IQ that aids him in covering for his teammates' mistakes and get into the passing lanes for steals that oftentimes kick off a fastbreak.

This will be great for Zach LaVine and Patrick Williams, two players who spent most of the time guarding top options for teams without having much help behind them. And Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley didn’t stop at just Ball in terms of defensive help. The Bulls added guard Alex Caruso on a four-year, $37 million deal which bolsters their perimeter defense even further.

Caruso was seventh in total minutes on a Lakers team that was second in the league in defensive rating per Cleaning The Glass (filters out garbage time), allowing a mere 108.1 points per 100 possessions.

He was an absolute bulldog on defense with L.A., playing a big part in the Lakers finishing in the top-five in turnover rate on defense.

Last season (2020–21) Alex Caruso finished with a 2.3% steal rate that puts him in the 90th percentile among combo guards. Lonzo Ball finished the 2021 season with a 2% steal rate that ranked him in the 82nd percentile amongst combo guards.

What those numbers reflect is, that even with clear weak links on defense, the Bulls now have the personnel in place to be a team that forces a lot of turnovers. This is a big-time move in the right direction for a team that was in the bottom-five in the league in defensive turnover rate last season.

Do The Bulls Have……A Top-10 Offense?

The Bulls offense was slightly below average last season, producing 111.8 points per 100 possessions. Karnisovas and Eversley added two above-average 3-point shooters — in Ball and Caruso — to a team that finished 13th in 3-point percentage last season. He also added a big-time scorer and usage player in DeRozan, but more on him later.

Having even more floor spacing around Vucevic will afford him more opportunities to attack from the low post. And when defenses are forced to collapse on Vucevic, he will now be kicking out to knockdown shooters.

CATCH-AND-SHOOT 3-POINT % IN 2020–21:

Lonzo Ball: 40% on 5.9 attempts per game

Alex Caruso: 42% on 2 attempts per game

Now, the later addition of DeMar DeRozan certainly was a step back in terms of adding shooting, as DeRozan is a career 28% 3-point shooter. But DeRozan’s addition solves another key piece of the puzzle for the Bulls: generating free throw attempts and scoring outside of LaVine.

In the 2020–21 season, Chicago was dead-last in free throw attempts, getting to the line under 18 times per game. DeRozan is coming off of a season in which he generated 7.2 FTA per game, a mark that would’ve easily led the Bulls.

Under Billy Donovan, the Bulls finally committed to aggressively hunting for smart 3-point shots. In Year 2 under Donovan, Chicago will actually have more than one consistent option — in DeRozan — in attacking defenses in the midrange area.

DeRozan is an excellent pick-and-roll threat, and Bulls fans should expect to see a lot of DeMar-Vucevic pick-and-pops.

DeRozan scored 1.02 points per possession as the pick-and-roll ball handler last season, a mark that puts him in the 84th percentile. LaVine scored 1.0 PPP last season in pick-and-rolls (ballhandler), putting Zach in the 82nd percentile.

Vucevic didn’t have a great season as a roll man last year but it is easy to see how that could change this season with defenses being preoccupied with the penetration of DeRozan or LaVine.

The key to this new-look Bulls team coming together for a successful season is a cohesive and coherent defense. They don’t need to be a top-10 unit, Chicago simply needs to cobble together a close-to-league-average unit that can be propped up by an elite offense.

DeRozan played a ton of power forward for a Spurs team that had a top-15 defense without a dominant defensive big man. The Bulls likely believe a similar formula to San Antonio’s— focusing heavily on perimeter defense and gang-rebounding on the defensive glass — will work for them.

When you take into account the possible internal growth on both sides of the ball from all of the Bulls players under 25 years old — Patrick Williams, Coby White, Troy Brown Jr, Lonzo Ball, Ayo Dosunmu, etc. — it is easy to see how concerns about the Bulls having the worst defense in the league is a bit overblown.

Patrick Williams’ development at the power forward spot is what could swing this upcoming Bulls season dramatically. Williams is already a solid enough player to impact winning. But if he takes a sizable leap — especially in terms of general aggressiveness — in Year 2, the Bulls could easily convince themselves to aim for nothing less than homecourt in the first round of the playoffs.

But for now, Bulls fans can sit back and relax, and enjoy the fact they finally got to be a part of an active offseason where Chicago was a major story.

The Bulls enter the 2021–22 season with three former All-Stars in their starting lineup. Not too bad for a team that finished a full two games back of the NBA Play-In Tournament.