Chicago Bulls’ starting rotation

The current Chicago Bulls depth chart is as follows:

PG: Josh Giddey – Tre Jones
SG: Coby White  – Kevin Heurter
SF: Ayo Dosunmu – Isaac Okoro
PF: Matas Buzelis – Patrick Williams
C: Nikola Vucevic – Zach Collins

Key Notes: Josh Giddey recently signed a four-year, $100 million extension to remain the Bulls’ starting point guard for the foreseeable future. Given his 14.6 PPG, 8.1 RPG (career-high), 7.2 APG (career-high), and 1.2 SPG (career-high) from last season, we can firmly guess that his starting job will not be at-risk.

The same can be said of center Nikola Vucevic, who enters his sixth season with the Bulls and 17th year in the NBA. His totals have remained consistent over the last four years and although he’s not a massive game-changer, it doesn’t seem likely that Zach Collins will truly challenge for his starting role.

We’re also going to assume that small forward Ayo Dosunmu is also safe given his four years inside the organization. Isaac Okoro joins the Bulls from Cleveland as a result of the Lonzo Ball trade, but at 6.1 PPG last season, he’s not likely to challenge Dosunmu’s 12.3 PPG mark, which has steadily increased since he’s entered the league. He’s also the much better defender and has proven himself to coach Billy Donovan on the defensive end of the floor.

Shooting guard Coby White is also likely safe given his scoring totals, posting the highest average of his career at 20.4 PPG, surpassing the 9.9 PPG mark from Huerter. While White is likely to handle point guard duties at several points throughout the season, likely sharing floor time with Huerter on many occasions, his ability to score in bunches has been a huge tool for the Bulls in recent years. We can expect him to continue being a scoring machine within this offense through his attacks on the rim.

Matas Buzelis vs. Patrick Williams

The final, and most volatile, roster spot will belong to second-year man Matas Buzelis. Drafted with the 11th overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, many experts are saying that he should have been drafted much earlier and basically fell to the Bulls as a gift. Still just 20 years old, Buzelis hasn’t even finished growing into his adult body. His size at 6-foot-10, coupled with his athleticism and ability to shoot the ball has the organization buzzing around his potential.

However, Patrick Williams was the starter in this spot last season and although he’s been nothing but a team player over the last five seasons with the Bulls, Williams will certainly be fighting to reclaim his spot in the starting rotation. While his scoring has always remained at a stagnant ceiling, Williams knows his biggest contributions can be made on the defensive end, somewhere Buzelis is still relatively unproven.

Nevertheless, Buzelis has effectively caught-up to Williams in terms of both the scoring and contributing on the boards. Averaging an additional 0.9 blocks per game, Buzelis’ height also adds some length down low in help situations with Nikola Vucevic. I expect Buzelis will also continue to grow as a passer, aggressively driving the lane and kicking it out to his teammates behind the arc. Overall, Buzelis can just do more with the basketball in his hands while arguably boasting the best raw athleticism on the team.

The final verdict here is that although Matas Buzelis holds the most volatile roster spot, he’s currently trending upwards while Patrick Williams has sort of stagnated over the last few years. The Bulls are hoping the new-look roster can ignite a new style of play that Billy Donovan has been hoping for since his arrival to the franchise.