Story of Bulls’ surge is more passes = more wins
An examination of the Bulls' successful 11-game stretch suggests they've found the right formula:
Passing means winning.
The Bulls went 8-3 beginning Nov. 30. Their positive run hit a roadblock Saturday when they lost to a shorthanded Cleveland squad led by former Bull Max Strus.
There's still three more home games this week – against Atlanta, Indiana and Philadelphia – so the Bulls have a chance to regain momentum. Duds happen to every NBA team.
“I felt like we were a step slow, quite honestly,” coach Billy Donovan said after losing to the Cavaliers. “We were just a step slow on a lot of loose balls, even some rotations.”
For this statistical study, we'll use the 8-3 stretch, compared to everything before that point in the season. The successful run began when Zach LaVine left the lineup with a foot injury, but you already knew that.
According to the tracking stats on nba.com, the Bulls made more passes than any team from Nov. 30 to Dec. 21, after ranking 18th during the early part of the season. The Bulls are throwing 33 more passes per game.
More passes have meant more open shots, it appears. The Bulls' 3-point percentage soared from 34.9% early in the season to 40.7%, which ranks fourth in the league during that time frame.
The Bulls' assists per game have increased by 5, and they've led the NBA in secondary assists since Nov. 30. That means they're making the passes that lead to good shots.
Looking at individual numbers, there wasn't anything alarming about where the Bulls stood on Nov. 29, besides the 5-14 record. The pass leaders were pretty even between White at 45.1 per game, LaVine with 43.4 and Nikola Vucevic at 41.3.
Since then, it's clear the Bulls have benefited from having the ball in White's hands. Since Nov. 30, White has averaged 64.1 passes per game, which is fifth-most in the NBA, trailing only Nikola Jokic, Tyrese Haliburton, Domantas Sabonis and Terry Rozier.
One oddity is all those players listed rank among the top 10 in assists since Nov. 30, while White ranks 24th. This seems to be a matter of White's passing being contagious, because all of the Bulls have taken a jump in the category. Vucevic has made 51.2 passes per game since Nov. 30. DeMar DeRozan's average has increased by 8 passes per game. More playing time for Ayo Dosunmu has been beneficial for ball movement.
Another big change for the Bulls is defense. They've gone from 26th in the league in defensive rating to seventh since Nov. 30. They made a similar surge last season and actually had the NBA's best defense from Jan. 1 through the end of the regular season.
The change in stats has been drastic, but it basically confirms what was already obvious: White's improvement has been the most positive news of the season and since Nov. 30, the Bulls have done a much better job of following the game plan Donovan talked about in training camp.
In other words, sharing the ball with White the focal point of the offense has been more successful than the old style of dueling isolations from DeRozan and LaVine.
LaVine will most likely return to the court in a few weeks, hoping to either fit in with the Bulls or enhance his trade value. That process will be interesting, to say the least.
“ How we've tried to play identity-wise has not necessarily changed since (LaVine) been out,” Donovan said. “It's not like he went out and we revamped the playbook. We just emphasized the things we thought were important.”
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