NBA Halloween: Playing trick-or-treat with each team’s early season trend

Chicago Bulls

The Bulls are not a dark horse playoff squad: Treat

Heading into the season, the Chicago Bulls and Atlanta Hawks were the two popular choices for “dark horse playoff team in the East.” Right now, it’s looking like the Hawks were the smarter pick.

Jim Boylen’s squad has started its season off with a 1-4 record, tied for the worst mark in the conference, and even worse, the Bulls’ early schedule has been a cakewalk to this point. Unfortunately, three of their four losses have come against a Terry Rozier-led Hornets team, the New York Knicks and their 14 power forwards, and the lottery-bound Cleveland Cavaliers. Da Bulls’ lone win came against the rebuilding Memphis Grizzlies.

Chicago ranks 23rd in both offensive and defensive rating, Lauri Markkanen is shooting a miserable 38.7 percent from the field and 21.2 percent from 3, and Otto Porter Jr. has been even worse, shooting 31.8 percent from the floor and 23.8 percent from distance. It was probably premature to expect this young team to put it all together right away, but the early returns could have Boylen’s seat warming up before the calendar flips to 2020.