McGraw: As Bulls open season. fans shouldn't lose sight of reality
One thing that was difficult to understand about the Bulls last year was why they made a declaration of being playoff contenders before the season began.
That's just setting yourself up to fail. Moving from 22 to 40 wins isn't feasible unless your team happened to draft Tim Duncan or Shaquille O'Neal.
The Bulls took the floor 14 months ago with a very young team and lost some close games to below-average opponents, and right away the feelings of frustration set in.
I asked both Jim Boylen and John Paxson about it at midseason and neither expressed any regrets. Boylen said the atmosphere was so positive in September when the players were punching the clock at the Advocate Center, competing in one-on-one tournaments and passing out championship belts, they asked for expectations to be set high.
The one very slim chance the Bulls had of making the playoffs last season was if Otto Porter had an A+ season, the best of his career. Of course, Porter ended up getting hurt and contributing next to nothing.
So now we're back for the 2020-21 season and there will be just two new players in uniform (rookie Patrick Williams and veteran guard Garrett Temple) when the Bulls take on Atlanta at the United Center on Wednesday.
With last year's experience in mind, it would help everyone from new boss Arturas Karnisovas to new coach Billy Donovan to the most casual fan watching on NBC Sports Chicago to follow this advice: Set expectations low.
The players have another year of experience, so the Bulls should be a little better right from the start. But in some ways, they got even younger since the 19-year-old Williams has joined the rotation and Porter has a more realistic role as a part-time scoring threat.
Donovan hasn't revealed his starting lineup yet, but he might go with the same starters that finished preseason - Williams, Coby White, Zach LaVine, Lauri Markkanen and Wendell Carter Jr.
All five of those guys were one-and-done college players who haven't had a whiff of winning experience in the NBA. LaVine is the oldest of the group at 25 and the best team he's played on was the 2016-17 Timberwolves, who finished 31-51 the year LaVine tore his ACL.
That's not how you win in the NBA. Karnisovas was handcuffed by a couple of bad contracts, but he's surely expecting to add at least one veteran next summer who will actually be on the floor, playing at the start and finish.
Karnisovas' former team, the Denver Nuggets, were built mostly through the draft. They signed a veteran free agent in Paul Millsap and got really lucky when second-round pick Nikola Jokic developed into an all-star.
At least one of the Bulls' young guys needs to clear out so a player or two with winning experience can step in. Obviously, it would help a lot if one of the recent draft picks develops into an all-star.
The Bulls added a couple of veterans last year with Tomas Satoransky and Thad Young. They're decent players, but aren't going to move the needle very far, and neither fits well into the starting lineup. At 6-7, Satoransky has a hard time defensively against opposing point guards and if Young plays, Markkanen or Carter has to sit.
In preseason, the Bulls seemed to appreciate Donovan's freewheeling offense. A good goal for the Bulls this year is to actually look like a young. energetic team that has a chance to pull an upset once in a while.
Keep in mind, teams that resided in the Bulls' neighborhood made changes. Atlanta has several new additions, Charlotte signed a veteran star in Gordon Hayward and the Knicks are now coached by Tom Thibodeau.
Then there's a schedule that features 10 of 13 games on the road between Dec. 29 and Jan. 22, and 20 out of 37 games against Western Conference opponents in the first half.
Maybe Donovan can work some magic with this group, but it's probably in everyone's best interest to set expectations low and go from there.
Twitter: @McGrawDHBulls