Mike Stobe/Getty Images DeRozan and LaVine
The Chicago Bulls have had a great season so far. The team is currently 38-21 and is tied for first place in the Eastern Conference Standings with the Miami Heat.
While there’s no question the Bulls season has been a success so far, things are about to get more difficult after the All-Star break. The level of play across the league picks up after the break as teams start to get themselves ready and in position for a postseason run.
For this Bulls team, it will be their first postseason run together. This is also a younger team that doesn’t have a ton of postseason experience.
Bulls Playoff Experience
The Bulls only have five players on their roster that have played in the postseason. DeMar DeRozan, Nikola Vucevic, Alex Caruso, Derrick Jones Jr., and recent addition Tristan Thompson are the only players to have played in the postseason.
With that lack of playoff experience, Bulls all-stars DeRozan and Zach LaVine know it will be up to them to lead the team after the break.
“I’ve been in guys ears,” said DeRozan, “just expressing to them the importance of understanding the moment, understanding after All-Star break everything goes like that (snaps fingers) you’re going to be able to see the separation from the good teams, the OK teams, and the great teams that are fighting for something. You know what position do we want to put ourselves in? and that’s the next challenge for us, we’ve got an opportunity to get back healthy, get some guys back and we’re going to have an opportunity.”
“I think we understand what we’re going into and what we’re trying to accomplish,” said LaVine. “Once we do get to practice I think we’ll bring everybody together and really try to get it going. That first practice is something to build us into this next road ahead, but I think we’re ready and we obviously got to get lucky and stay healthy, but I think we have a chance if we come together collectively.”
The Road Ahead
Over the last 23 games of the regular season, the Bulls will have two main focuses as a team, getting healthy and playoff positioning. The first of which is starting to come to fruition for the team. Alex Caruso is expected to be cleared for basketball activities soon, while Lonzo Ball and Patrick Williams are expected to return before the end of the regular season.
Getting the best playoff seed possible won’t be easy though. In the Bulls’ 23 remaining regular-season games, 18 of them are against teams that are currently playoff teams. In those 18 games, they play the Milwaukee Bucks three times, the Miami Heat twice, and the Cleveland Cavaliers twice. The Bulls also will play the Memphis Grizzlies, Phoenix Suns, and Utah Jazz. According to tankathon.com, the Bulls have the second-toughest remaining schedule in the NBA.
The rest of the schedule will definitely be challenging for the Bulls, but they also have a chance to control their own destiny in the Eastern Conference. If the team can get fully healthy, it will be interesting to see how far this team can go this season.