The Chicago Bulls ushered in a new era when they let DeMar DeRozan head West to Sacramento and dealt Alex Caruso to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Josh Giddey.

There’s more work to be done and more veterans to trade, but those moves essentially signaled to the NBA that it was time for a youth movement in Chicago.

Along with that came a new up-tempo system centered around Giddey, Coby White and the Bulls’ other young guards that features transition buckets and a mass of 3-pointers. That’s made for a much more aesthetically pleasing brand of basketball if nothing else.

The new approach, at least in the half-court, has been a revelation for center Nikola Vucevic, who’s shooting a career-high 47.4 percent from three on nearly five attempts per game. Fellow vet Lonzo Ball, when healthy, has been another beneficiary.

Ditto for Zach LaVine, who’s played in 21 of Chicago’s 24 games so far and is averaging 21.8 points on 50.8 percent shooting from the field and 43.2 percent from three on 7.4 attempts.

The system is working offensively. It’s the other end of the floor that’s keeping the Bulls from winning games. LaVine knows it and he said just as much after his team’s loss to the Indiana Pacers on Dec. 6.

LaVine scored 32 points in the loss to Indiana. Chicago shot 21-of-50(!) from three, hoisting 21 more shots from deep than the Pacers and connecting on 42 percent of them.

The Bulls took 97 total shots and scored 29 points in transition.

And they lost by nine.

LaVine revealed the relatively awful truth about the 2024-25 Chicago Bulls via Sam Smith of NBA.com:

““I think this is our best way of competing … We’ve competed in every game; we just have to figure out how to get a stop to stop the damage (when trailing).””

– Bulls guard Zach LaVine

He’s right. Chicago’s best way of competing right now is to do what it did against the Pacers: play fast, score quickly, force turnovers and launch and make a ton of threes.

But as evidenced by the loss – and the season – it’s clearly not working.

On Dec. 8, the Bulls are fourth in the NBA in scoring, third in 3-point attempts per game, fourth in 3-point percentage and first in pace.

That’s led to a 10-14 record because Chicago also leads in the league in points allowed, sits 28th in defensive rating, 28th in opponent field goal percentage and 30th in points allowed in the paint.

So yes, the Bulls are competing in the best way they can. They’re just so terrible on the other end of the floor it’s not leading to wins.