After trading DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso during the 2024 offseason and Zach LaVine at last month’s trade deadline, the Bulls – who had a 21-29 record at the time of the LaVine deal and had reacquired full control of their 2025 first-round pick – were considered likely to tank the rest of the season.
Instead, the club has played some of its best basketball of the season in recent weeks. Chicago has posted a .500 record (11-11) since the LaVine trade and has been especially hot as of late, winning eight of its last 10 games. That stretch includes road victories this past week over the Kings, Lakers, and Nuggets, as well as back-to-back Player of the Week awards for guard Coby White.
“I just think we kind of embraced the challenge and took pride in showing that people kind of wrote us off when Zach got traded,” Nikola Vucevic said on Monday, per Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times. “I think we’ve really come together as a group. Our chemistry has been really good. When you lose someone, a player like (LaVine), it opens up opportunities for other players, and guys have really stepped up — Josh (Giddey), Coby, Tre (Jones) before he got hurt, Kevin (Huerter). Like, Kevin wasn’t playing much in (Sacramento), and he came here with a chip on his shoulder and showed he can still contribute at a high level, and he has been.”
Vucevic was widely expected to be on the move prior to the February 6 trade deadline and is now considered an offseason trade candidate. However, according to Cowley, the veteran center is buying into the new-look group and wouldn’t be opposed to finishing out the final year of his current contract in Chicago.
“Who knows what happens in the summer, but right now I’m focused on this group of guys,” Vucevic said. “I’ve really enjoyed playing with them. Guys with good character, guys that really want to win, they care. We play for each other, we compete, and that’s what you want.”
Here’s more from around the Central:
- In a wide-ranging interview with Sam Amick of The Athletic, Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo lauded Milwaukee’s role players, reiterated that he cares much more about winning another championship than another MVP award, and downplayed a recent post-game meeting involving him, Damian Lillard, and head coach Doc Rivers.
- Rivers ranks eighth all-time among NBA head coaches in regular season wins and will tie Phil Jackson at 1,155 with the Bucks‘ next victory. Rivers spoke to Marc J. Spears of Andscape about what it would mean to surpass Jackson on that list, as well as a handful of other topics, including what Milwaukee needs to do in order to have postseason success this spring. “No. 1 is health,” Rivers said. “But this team is an interesting team. We have proven on given points that we can beat anybody. They decided they were going to win the (NBA) Cup and no one was going to beat us. But then we go backwards.”
- Speaking to Tim Reynolds of The Associated Press, J.B. Bickerstaff explained why the Pistons‘ head coaching position appealed to him last spring when the team was coming off a 14-68 season and why his decision to accept the job was the right one. “I have 1,000% fallen in love with this group,” Bickerstaff said. “And all my focus goes into them and seeing them elevate and seeing them grow. That’s the thing that I find the most joy in.”
Bickerstaff is a builder. Hopefully he can make some noise in the playoffs. Ivey may be back!
Hmmm…The Kings have been under .500 since they traded LaVine. Maybe he was the problem.
I could be reading this wrong. But, they look to have about $40 million in cap space. They might be able to land a significant Free Agent. If they stayed a lottery team, they could land a solid player in the draft.
The Bulls could be interesting next season.
Not really. The Giddey extension will take up most of that. They do have a big trade exception if I’m not mistaken. But unless they trade Vuj, White and Ayo then they’ll have Cap Space. But I don’t trust these morons to make the right draft pick from the middle of the first round. Unless we get a new FO.
But can’t the extension happen after the FA signing.
The real question is after this “great” improvement will the team give bloated extensions to so it can be decent and never great.
Hey unc.
I do believe that Lavine is a great athlete who can dominate a single game from time to time. However i think although Zack can really get hot and shoot lights out, he has no clue how to share the ball and get others involved in the offense.
Often the ball would get to him, and you could tell he was going to take the shot no matter how many guys he had to dribble through. Many of his shots were forced and off balance. He always seemed capable of creating a shot for himself, but very often they were not good shots. I feel this team is much better without him.
Welcome to hoops Dog. I was never LaVine’s biggest fan. I was in favor of matching the offer sheet he got from Sac. at 3 and 54. Then I thought he should have been traded for draft assets and a player because 18 million wasn’t hard to match up in a deal. And I almost had a stroke when they gave him the Max extension. I don’t think he’s ever been on a winning team in his life.
Yeah, I haven’t been on here very long. I was glad to see you pop up, in the comments section. I wish you well.
Hopefully Giddey, Coby White and a few others will make things interesting for awhile in the playoffs.
Happy baseball season.
This team is great to watch…Vouch said it best…”they care about winning “…
And that’s all as fans we been asking for…
Despite Billy D not playing the our youth right away…they have grown this year and actually having a winning core with players like Coby-Giddy and Buzelis…
Can’t wait for the play in game and the offseason to see how much more we can improve the roster…
Exciting times to be a Bulls fan IMO!!!
Bulls 8-2 last 10 gms.. What’s going on with them.
Top 5 scoring team in L. If they ever learn to play D.
Things can really change ….. maybe
Hey AL, Any chance you have any influence on the Knicks and can get them to take Williams off our hands? C’mon 15 million isn’t hard to match in a deal. You love him right? See what you can do big guy.
@uncle : williams who? Polly williams? No team want him, only alfonso look him as a good player.
@iceman813– I’m in your camp and we can probably agree the Bulls are in a complex / touch and go spot rn
I see the merits of tank2k towards Chi but I doubt they will ever see yours