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Following a 5-0 start, the Chicago Bulls have stumbled to a 9-10 record, losing three straight and seven of their last 10 games. Their defense has struggled mightily, and the offense hasn\u2019t been able to compensate for the lapses.<\/p>\n
Moreover, Chicago\u2019s bench, which carried the team to early-season wins, has cooled off recently. In the first 10 games, it ranked third in scoring, fifth in field goal percentage, sixth in three-point percentage, and fifth in plus\/minus.<\/p>\n
Over the Bulls\u2019 last five games, the bench ranks 15th in scoring, 16th in field goal percentage, 26th in three-point percentage, and 28th in plus\/minus. What was once a nearly unbeatable advantage has become a unit less effective than most of its rivals.<\/p>\n
Surely, injuries have limited the effectiveness of the Bulls\u2019 reserves. Kevin Huerter, Jalen Smith, and Patrick Williams have all missed games over Chicago\u2019s last five, and several starters have been sidelined as well, further muddying the team\u2019s overall performance.<\/p>\n
Regardless of injuries, the Bulls\u2019 bench just hasn\u2019t been as effective. In a 103-101 loss to the Indiana Pacers, the reserves scored 30 points on 12-of-24 shooting. Tre Jones accounted for much of that output, dropping 17 points on 7-of-9 shooting and finishing with a plus-6, one of only four Bulls to record a positive plus\/minus.<\/p>\n
Before the loss in Indiana, Chicago suffered an ugly defeat at the hands of the Charlotte Hornets. In that game, the bench was outscored by Charlotte\u2019s reserves and had only one player with a positive plus\/minus\u2014Jones, once again. Ayo Dosunmu and Jalen Smith, arguably the Bulls\u2019 most impactful reserves, finished with minus-21 and minus-19, respectively, in the seven-point loss.<\/p>\n
The bench\u2019s relative ineffectiveness is evident in the team\u2019s decline over the last five games. After a stellar start, the Bulls can no longer afford for their reserves to flounder. Through the season, 38.1 percent of Chicago\u2019s points have come from the bench\u2014ranking third in the NBA and highlighting just how crucial the reserves have been to the team\u2019s success.<\/p>\n
Chicago needs its bench to produce\u2014it\u2019s non-negotiable, especially without a true star in the starting lineup. That could mean Ayo Dosunmu returns to a reserve role when Isaac Okoro comes back from injury. Although Dosunmu is having a career year, a bench role may be better for the team\u2019s overall success.<\/p>\n
While there isn\u2019t another lineup change Billy Donovan could realistically make, the return of several players and finding the most plausible rotation moving forward is bound to improve both team success and chemistry. Nonetheless, if there\u2019s one aspect of the Bulls that needs to rekindle some early-season magic, it\u2019s the bench.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Bulls\u2019 bench, once a key strength, has cooled off; returning players and a stable rotation are crucial to restoring team success and chemistry.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":124151,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-124147","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"\n