What did we learn from Bulls preseason? Not much
While NBA preseason is typically pretty useless, it was especially tough to find anything meaningful from the Bulls this year.
They finished 3-1, but the lineup Milwaukee put on the floor Tuesday at the United Center would struggle to make the G-League playoffs.
Zach LaVine took it slow because he's coming back from arthroscopic knee surgery. Goran Dragic took it slow because he just played in the European championships.
Center Andre Drummond showed he can be a 3-point threat by going 3-for-3 at Toronto last Sunday, but that's not likely to be a significant part of the Bulls' offense.
Coach Billy Donovan went through a long list - as is his style - of the team's progress and concerns following Tuesday's preseason finale.
He mentioned doing a good job of pushing the pace, being cognizant of spacing and attacking the basket in order to create more kick-out 3-point attempts. The defense looked flat-out awful a few times and the Bulls had some halves where they piled up turnovers.
"I think the things we tried to implement during training camp in terms of the identity and style, we've gotten better each game," Donovan said. "(The defense,) it's got to be five guys. We're going to need help from each other."
The biggest preseason take-away from this seat - the Bulls are at their best when they're a hustling, scrappy, fast-paced team. That style usually doesn't fare well in the playoffs, but it's the only way this Bulls team will ever reach the postseason.
The Bulls need to follow the lead of Alex Caruso. Everyone in the rotation is capable of being a defensive-minded, versatile talent. No one is quite as good at it as Caruso, although Javonte Green has a similar style and Dragic seems to be a kindred spirit, even if he's slowing down at 36.
One problem, and Caruso has mentioned this himself, is it's draining to play that hustling style. He averaged 21 minutes per game with the Lakers two years ago. Last season, logging 28 minutes with the Bulls, he played in just 41 of 82 games due to injuries.
Maybe depth will be a strength this season. Rookie Dalen Terry and high-flying forward Derrick Jones Jr. are two players who likely won't be in the rotation when the regular season begins next Wednesday at Miami. But they should be a good fit style-wise when called upon.
Scrappiness from the second unit should be a constant. The starters played that way early last season with Lonzo Ball on the floor, then got to a point where they played best when DeMar DeRozan was looking for his shot and posting big numbers.
Preseason fell into the same pattern at times. After a couple of bad starts, the Bulls settled down when DeRozan took over the offense. Is there a way to blend both style? Time will tell.
It also remains to be seen if the Bulls will generate a more consistent balance between DeRozan, LaVine and Nikola Vucevic this season. Ideally, they want Vucevic scoring inside and out, LaVine attacking the basket and draining open 3s, and DeRozan doing his usual efficient scoring.
It probably makes sense to start Green at power forward and bring Patrick Williams off the bench, where he can look to be aggressive with the younger lineup. But those two may end up being interchangeable.
Maybe the best preseason observation was how the Bulls bounced back after a rough start against Toronto. That was a nice performance against a team playing its usual starters, but a very small sample size with the regular season looming.
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