The Chicago Bulls have one of the worst defensive starting lineups in basketball, as outlined by Greg Swartz of Bleacher Report, and that’s without even factoring in them re-signing Josh Giddey. They have a chance to be the worst defense in basketball next season:

“Ignoring the Josh Giddey situation for a moment, the other four starters here registered a putrid net rating of minus-22.3 together with a defense that allowed a whopping 135.6 points per 100 possession,” Swartz wrote. “If Giddey signs a new contract to return, he’s not improving those defensive numbers and at age 35 in October, Vučević isn’t going to suddenly turn into a rim protector. The Bulls are enduring a semi-youth movement and have decent depth if Giddey returns, but this starting lineup is bad.”

Swartz ranked the Bulls’ first five (without Giddey included) of Tre Jones, Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu, Matas Buzelis, and Nikola Vucevic as the 27th-best in the league.

How can the Bulls avoid being the worst defense?

Honestly, there aren’t a ton of options available to the Bulls outside of internal development. If they don’t want to be the worst defense in the NBA, they’ll have to depend on their young guys improving drastically on that end of the court.

Outside of that, they’ve put themselves in a pretty rough position based on the guys they will likely be playing in their starting lineup.

Even if Giddey comes back, the Bulls will probably have three guards in their starting lineup in Giddey, White, and Dosunmu. And though Giddey is huge for a guard, he’s never been a plus on the defensive end. Past that, White and Dosunmu playing the two and the three means the Bulls will likely be very undersized in most defensive situations.

If Giddey doesn’t end up signing with the Bulls, which seems relatively unlikely, putting Jones in the starting lineup in his place would make the starting five even smaller.

Regardless of the defense, though, there don’t seem to be many roads forward that would lead the Bulls to a successful next season. Despite how wide open the East is looking, Chicago will still likely finish toward the bottom of the standings.

That said, at this point in their rebuild, that might be for the best. Landing a top-five pick could do wonders for the future of the organization, especially with guys like Darryn Peterson, AJ Dybantsa, and Cameron Booker at the top of the draft pool.

The Bulls need talent, and while it may not be fun to watch a tanking team, it looks like they’re set up to do just that.