NFL
By: Stephen PridGeon-Garner
The Chicago Bulls are presently 8-11. That is a disappointing mark, no ifs, and, or buts about it.
They’re coming off their second disappointing loss in four games, the two losses, ironically, surround a two-game win-streak that most teams in the league would not be able to execute, in winning at home vs Boston, then, on the road vs Milwaukee, in succession.
It entails the mediocrity of the team at the moment, and also speaks to the inconsistencies and need for more leadership in a sustainable manner, so that these dramatic ebbs and flows are less recurring.
Nonetheless, we’re here to highlight a specific entity of the Bulls play of late that’s unlocked a handful of dynamics within their typical pace and flow.
Transition Play
One of the main things I’ve harped on the Bulls about has been the lack of pace-pushing flow they’ve put forth, independent of forced turnovers (typically initiated by Alex Caruso and Javonte Green), and also independent of any events being caused by the bench (or bench-adjacent) units.
In the starting lineup, the Bulls have two budding young talents eager to have their leashes extended, being enabled to go off-script more and “experiment.”
Those two players are Ayo Dosunmu and Patrick Williams.
In these two, the Bulls have guys that can crash the defensive glass and put their heads down. Oftentimes beating the pack down the floor with the ball in changing ends.
When they’re allowed to, this generates not only real-time advantages but also allows for the Bulls to get efficient shots on goal, while establishing a rhythm and flow that allows them to dictate the pace.
Specifically, with the starting unit, this is what’s needed.
That entity is a lot of what Javonte Green brings to the starting unit when he’s with them. He doesn’t do so with the ball, as Patrick Williams can, but he does so without it, receiving hit-ahead passes and alley-oops that put defenses in panic mode, getting a reaction out of them as well as the fans.
Dosunmu and Williams have been actively implored by Donovan and company to push the pace when grabbing rebounds since around the November 18th loss vs Orlando.
In this four-game stretch where these two have been doing so, the Bulls are first in the NBA in transition points added per 100 possessions.
They’re at 6.4. The League average in this window is 2.5.
The elixir here is how they’re generating these looks. Again, I mentioned the “grab and go” type of imploring for “one-man fastbreak-ability” for Dosunmu and Williams. The Bulls points added per 100 possessions via live rebounds in this window is also first, at 5.2. The League average in this window is a mere 1.1.
Even more, if you zoom in on it from a live rebound efficiency lense, via 100 plays, the Bulls are at 159 points per play. For reference there, the league average in this window is 120.7.
The impacts it’s shown to have in spurts, in this small four-game sample size, can’t be ignored. We’ve also seen better flow from not just the team’s halfcourt play (particularly vs Boston and Milwaukee) but also from Williams as well as Dosunmu here too, with a large part being attributed to the freedom to experiment in the open floor, as it greatly aids the team and helps to randomize their offense, while also avoiding the halfcourt offense rigors that persist.
On the season, Bulls lineups including both Dosunmu and Williams presently rank in the 85th percentile (2.4), and 84th percentile (134.0) in points per play. The frequency ranks in just the 34th percentile, however. When your team is constructed as the Bulls are, and you have youthful talents that have shown the ability to be effective in this specific realm, they must be turned loose.
A huge part of the picture for the Bulls to take a proverbial “next step” in their evolution offensively is the team finding out how to squeeze as much out of the skillsets of these two, but also for those two to find the blend in doing so, so that it is as conducive and additive to their winning efforts as can be.
These two operating independently of the Big Three, while also being able to give opposing defenses more to worry about, as well as even creating looks for the Big Three (rather than the standard, which is the inverse here), is how that collective “turning of the page” can occur.
As the Chicago Bulls trek forward on this west coast-heavy six-game roady, presently 1-1, keep an eye on the dynamic of pace-pushing off of live rebounds specifically amongst the starters, how involved it keeps Dosunmu and Williams, and how it helps better blend these two into the team’s production offensively, while also helping to establish a much better flow to the starting unit.
*All stats and information used in this article come directly from CleaningTheGlass.com, and are accurate entering play on 11.28.22*
