Fansided

The Chicago Bulls make no sense and it’s awesome

By Chris Barnewall

Oct 6, 2016; Indianapolis, IN, USA; (From R-L) Chicago Bulls Jimmy Butler, Rajon Rondo, and Dwayne Wade watch from the bench during their game against the Indiana Pacers at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The Pacers won 115-108. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports
Oct 6, 2016; Indianapolis, IN, USA; (From R-L) Chicago Bulls Jimmy Butler, Rajon Rondo, and Dwayne Wade watch from the bench during their game against the Indiana Pacers at Bankers Life Fieldhouse. The Pacers won 115-108. Mandatory Credit: Brian Spurlock-USA TODAY Sports /
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For the Chicago Bulls, they came into this season with high expectations nationally but low expectations among hardcore basketball nerds for pretty legitimate reasons. Based on one look at the build of this roster, the coach being asked to work with their personnel, and considering what is successful in today’s NBA, it’s no wonder there was concern for the Bulls. Their big acquisitions of the offseason were Dwyane Wade and Rajon Rondo. For a team that has historically struggled with consistent 3-point shooting, it felt strange to address that problem by adding players known for not being able to shoot from deep.

Chicago then doubled down on this by trading for Michael Carter-Williams, who not only can’t shoot 3-pointers but struggles to shoot at all. All of Chicago’s moves pointed towards a complete abandonment of the 3-point shot, which didn’t make sense considering their coach, Fred Hoiberg, is believed be a “modern” head coach that values metrics and efficiency. It felt like a recipe for disaster.

The season may have just begun — and early stats all have the asterisks of small sample size next to them — but the Bulls have proved that logic is pointless and us “experts” know absolutely nothing about basketball (in small doses). As October comes to a close, Chicago currently has the best offense in the league and are in the top-five of true shooting percentage (57.3 percent) and effective field goal percentage (53 percent). Perhaps more shocking than all of this? The Bulls are currently shooting 42 percent from 3-point range, which puts them in the top-three of the NBA behind San Antonio and Memphis.

Read More: The Bulls have the NBA’s best offense

Small sample size or not, nobody was expecting them to be a threat from the outside at any point this season, let alone finish October among the top of the league.

Initial thoughts are that Chicago must be playing a fast style, chucking from the perimeter, and using the amount of attempts to inflate their numbers. However they’re merely league average in attempts from 3-point range, and their pace is among the lower half of NBA teams. They don’t do anything special to make up for what should be a lack of shooting. Chicago takes the 3-pointers they create and makes them just like any other NBA team. Their current leaders are Wade, who notoriously went months last season without attempting a single 3-pointer, and Jimmy Butler, a career 33 percent shooter from deep.

On one hand, this is clearly some good coaching on Hoiberg’s behalf to take players that have been below average shooters and find ways to get them open looks. On the other, none of it makes any sense and it shouldn’t be happening ever. Claiming that the Bulls were going to be one of the worst shooting teams in the NBA this season was not a crazy proclamation. The closest things they had to consistent deep shooter across the entire roster were Nikola Mirotic and Doug McDermott. Teams that feature only two 3-point shooters entering the season don’t come out firing away and making those shots.

But that’s what makes all of this so awesome. The Bulls might inevitably regress to what they were expected to be, or maybe this trend continues and they become an offensive force throughout the season. The sample size is too small to reach conclusions right now, but let’s just enjoy this because this is what the NBA is all about — unexpected flashes that can’t really be explained.

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