With big men struggling, maybe Bulls have too much depth

When the season began, one category the Bulls seemed a lock to win every night was bench points.

Thanks to a deep roster, they'd be using Joakim Noah, Taj Gibson, Aaron Brooks and Doug McDermott as reserves.

The reality hasn't been that bad. Through 14 games, the Bulls have won the bench points eight times. Of the times the reserves didn't win, they were outscored by 1 point once, by 2 points once and also lost a meaningless bench battle in a blowout victory at Brooklyn.

This part is alarming, though: In three of the last four games, Joakim Noah has scored 0 points. Two years removed from a first-team All-NBA appearance, Noah is averaging just 2.7 points and shooting 32.6 percent from the field.

Is Noah's health still an issue? He clearly struggled last season on a sore knee. But consider this number: Noah ranks fourth in the league in rebounds per 48 minutes, trailing only Andre Drummond, DeAndre Jordan and Enes Kanter.

Noah has been productive on the boards, but is still inconsistent. He grabbed 18 rebounds in just 23 minutes against Charlotte on Nov. 13, the night of the terror attacks in his hometown of Paris. Noah had a more ordinary 5 rebounds in Friday's 104-92 loss at Indiana, a game where the Bulls needed the second team to provide a spark.

During the now-complete circus road trip, Noah discussed his struggles with espn.com.

"I've just got to be more aggressive," he said. "I've got to be more aggressive offensively and look for my opportunities. Right now, I'm just not really sure where I can get them, but when they come I have to be ready and I have to be ready to score."

Noah has never been much of a scorer, but he did average double figures for five straight seasons, with a peak of 12.6 points in 2013-14.

Typically, he'd collect a couple tornado jumpers, a few tip-ins and maybe some drives to the basket in a game. Last year with his knee issues, Noah seemed to lose confidence in his outside shot and it hasn't come back.

Maybe he's just not getting enough time to find a rhythm. Noah averaged 35 minutes per game two seasons ago. This year, his playing time has dropped all the way to 20.4 minutes.

Here's another possibility, maybe the Bulls have too much depth. Starting center Pau Gasol, playing 29.1 minutes per game, is averaging a career-low 13.4 points per game. Keep in mind, Gasol's career is in its 15th season.

Gibson, Noah's usual partner off the bench, is also averaging a career-low, with 6.5 points per game in 21.4 minutes.

The fourth piece in the big man puzzle is Nikola Mirotic, who has played like a potential all-star in some games and looked lost in others. He's averaging 12.9 points in 25.9 minutes, while shooting 39 percent from the field.

Among the other Bulls reserves, McDermott is slumping, going 3-for-15 from the field in the last three games. He left the Indiana game at halftime with an illness.

Brooks is sidelined by a hamstring injury and seemed to fall out of favor with Hoiberg due to his shoot-first, pass-later style. Backup guards E'Twaun Moore and Kirk Hinrich have played well, but Hinrich's status is questionable after suffering a hip pointer against the Pacers.

If these numbers don't change, it will be time to ask if a trade to break up the big man log jam is the best course of action. The Bulls don't figure to trade the 24-year-old Mirotic. Noah and Gasol can both become free agents next summer.

November 29 is not the time to make big decisions about the makeup of the team. The Bulls are just a half-game out of the No. 2 seed in the East, with plenty of home games in December, so there's still time to make this work.

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