Can fast-paced Bulls avoid hitting potholes?

Not everyone has been able to watch the Bulls this season. So as a public service, let's try to describe what's been happening.

For starters, this team can be fun to watch. They've embraced the high-speed, long-range shooting style, which means plenty of action.

Heading into Monday's slate, the Bulls were tops in the league in pace and tied for fifth in 3-pointers made per game. They were also 29th in points allowed and tied for 24th in defensive rating.

Let's back up a couple of graphs. The Bulls CAN be fun to watch, but can also burn the eyeballs. Playing fast, they seem incapable of bringing effort in back-to-back games. All three of their back-to-back sets have resulted in one miserable blowout. They did bounce back from Sunday’s ugly loss against Houston to win at Detroit 122-112 on Monday.

· Now that the Bulls picked a lane, what does it mean for the future? Hard to say, since there's still time to follow both potential paths for this season — try to make the playoffs, more likely the play-in; or lose enough games to land a top-10 draft pick, which would mean they don't have to send it to San Antonio, at least not until 2026.

The chances of trading either Zach LaVine or Nikola Vucevic are slim. LaVine's contract is still an issue, as well as his injury history. He can still look like a star, such as the 31-points at New York last week, but then he came back and scored 8 in the next game against Cleveland.

LaVine hit 6 3-pointers in the fourth quarter at Detroit. Plenty of teams could use a player who can do that, but not at $136 million, most likely.

Vucevic put up some nice numbers against the Pistons, scoring 29 points while hitting 6 of 8 3-pointers. He's a good player, but NBA teams are looking for rim protection these days and that's not his game. The Bulls have been very good defensively at times with Vucevic in the lineup, but this year has been tough with a fast-paced game and below-average defenders on the perimeter.

This goes back to the curious decision to give Vucevic a three-year deal in the summer of '23. If he had one year left on his contract, maybe a team has an injury and needs to trade for a center. With two years left, that seems less likely.

· This team lacks a strong leader and doesn't have any good defenders. What does it have? The Bulls' best hope is Coby White climbing into superstar status. He's 24 and could maybe step up to Jalen Brunson or De'Aaron Fox status, but that jump needs to happen soon.

Patrick Williams remains frustrating. He can hit 3-pointers and play good defense when the matchup is right, but disappears too often. He's gotten 2 or fewer rebounds three times this month.

But the Bulls made another curious contract decision over the summer. Rather than risk another team bringing a large offer sheet to Williams, the Bulls gave him $18 million over five seasons, so now he'll be tough to trade, as well.

It would be nice to see coach Billy Donovan turn things over to Dalen Terry and Julian Phillips more often. If there's one player on the roster with a chance to be a top-level defender, it's probably Terry with his length and speed, although Phillips is also a candidate.

Donovan is already using Ayo Dosunmu to close games instead of Josh Giddey, who is still working on his defensive issues. It would be interesting to see more of Terry against an opponent’s top scorer or maybe backup center Jalen Smith with the starters.

If the Bulls start to win more often, the young nucleus of White, Dosunmu, Giddey, Williams, Terry and Phillips could start to seem promising. Rookie Matas Buzelis isn't ready to play in the NBA, but has made quick progress so far.

The goal is to be one trade away. Have enough young assets and draft picks to make a move if a true superstar hits the trade market.

Those older, less tradable pieces, they might as well enjoy the ride, because the Bulls are moving too fast for anyone to jump off.