The night of November 28th, the Chicago Bulls had just finished taking one of the season’s worst losses to the Boston Celtics 124-97 and fell to 5-14. That loss was the straw that broke the camel’s back for most of the fanbase, and the calls for trades began; specifically for the big three of Zach Lavine, DeMar DeRozan, and Nikola Vucevic. 

Before the season, Billy Donovan talked about wanting to be a better offensive rebounding team and also wanting to change their shot profile to fit the modern NBA game. Well, the season didn’t start sufficiently. The first month of the season was brutal. The Bulls were 18th in the NBA on three-point attempts with 33 per game and only made 34.9%. They also grabbed 10.7 offensive rebounds ranking 16th in the NBA. Last, but certainly not least the Bulls were 28th in the NBA in points scored in the early stretch, scoring only 106.2. 

Since that loss to the Boston Celtics in November, the Bulls have won eight of 11 games and are scoring an average of 117.9 points per game. That’s an 11.7-point increase during this stretch. This team is shooting a blistering 40.7% from beyond the arc and that’s on a continued improved 3PAr(three-point attempt rate) from last season. Their offense is rebounding the ball at a high rate, capturing 13 per game, which is good enough for second in the NBA. They are fifth in total rebounds. Likewise, the defense has still been a big part of this team too as 17% of their points have come from scoring off turnovers. That’s good enough for fourth in the league during this stretch. 

The young guys in Coby White, Patrick Williams, and Ayo Dosunmu have played genuinely well too in this stretch with a combined +28.2 on the court. A Lot of this run has a TON to do with how much that group is growing and giving Bulls fans hope for the future. Let’s not forget about Nikola Vucevic and how the Bulls are using him as more of a hub since the Zach Lavine foot injury. In that time Nikola Vucevic ranks second in the league in front-court touches with 56.2 per game right behind.. yes, you might have guessed it.. Nikola Jokic. Vucevic has done a remarkable job connecting both sides of the floor while also helping to connect and layer actions. 

But there is one player that I truly believe deserves some flowers for how this ball club has turned around its play as of late and that is none other than DeMar DeRozan. 

Let’s talk about who folks in the league call Debo…

The Shooting DeMar

Before the season began there wasn’t a reason to believe that DeMar would be open to changing his shot diet, even a little bit. He’s alluded to feeling he didn’t need to change because of his success scoring the ball without having to shoot the three. Well, according to Cleaning the Glass, 13% of his shots come from three. That’s the highest since his fifth year in the league with the Toronto Raptors. He’s shot a total of 73 threes on the season and sitting at 36%. The intent on shooting them hasn’t wavered since the injury to Zach Lavine. He’s continued launching those threes when he has the opportunity. Diving deeper into those number, he’s shot 65 catch-and-shoot three-pointers and connected on 40% while shooting 38%. 42 of those shots have been contested.

Rock Steady

DeMar has been nothing short of exceptional when you talk about his performance as a primary ballhandler for this team. He has the lowest turnover percentage of his career 6.6%. When you lose Zach Lavine there’s more usage that needs to be taken up and what stands out to me is that DeMar is allowing for the young guys and Nikola Vucevic to make plays as well. When he has the ball he’s not going straight into isolation mode, which is the least he’s done since becoming a Chicago Bull. He’s currently attacking in isolation 13% of the time. The savvy vet is adapting to the new style of play of his team. The table below really matches the eye test when you tune in to games. He’s doing less isolation ball and playing more within the flow of the offense.

During this Bulls run what stands out is DeMar’s ability to consistently make the right passing read. In these 11 games, DeMar has bumped up his assist total from 4.2 to 6.7. Primary ballhandlers don’t have to be Luka Doncic with his eye manipulation and ability to whip passes all over the floor. But in my opinion, you have to be consistent in your reads no matter how you get it done. So in DeMar’s case, he wins with his ability to use frame to leverage driving angles. Additionally, his handle is tight enough to get to the spots where he wants on the floor.

The clip below shows the Chicago Bulls running a double drag to get Damian Lillard switched on to DeMar. The Bucks were switching everything during that overtime so the Bulls knew that this would happen. The beauty in this is what DeMar does to open up a passing window to Patrick Williams for the finish. He uses his size to get close enough to the paint that Brook Lopez felt he needed to come help and once again DeMar makes the right read to drop it off to Patrick Williams.

This next clip is a great example of what I try to teach my players and that’s attacking gaps. DeMar once again is reading the floor and sees Dennis Smith Jr. sliding over to the nail to help on the potential pocket pass to Andre Drummond, DeMar sees it and skips it over to Jevon Carter. Jevon then receives a screen from Drummond and Royce O’Neal slides over hard to help from the nail and forces Jevon to kick it to a spaced DeMar. This is where I’ve loved what DeMar has done this season and that is play off-the-catch. He attacks the gap so fast and gets into the paint that it forces Day’ron Sharpe to have to show and DeMar throws a feathery lob pass to Drummond for the finish.

DeMar the Event Creator

DeMar has never really been thought of as a positive defender. I would say that he has been damn good this year when you talk about off-ball defense. He still has his warts when guarding the ball, but he’s been locked in when positioned as the low man in pick-and-roll coverage. DeMar is currently ranked second on the team in stocks(steals and blocks) with 53. He’s got the highest block percentage of his 14-year career. When tasked to be off the ball you would like to see players anticipate passes, understand what actions are about to be run from film, or just flat-out understand what a team is trying to do to you.

When it comes to talking about the defensive side in basketball it’s very hard to base your analysis of it just off of numbers. Defensively you have to watch the film and get an idea of what the particular team is asking of the player and to see how the player is processing the floor on that end. So with that let us talk about a few clips.

In this clip, the Dallas Mavericks are having Luka Doncic come off an empty side pick-and-roll. Grant Williams is emptying to the opposite side trying to bring DeMar away from the basket. Little do they know that DeMar processed the floor and saw that he was headed to the three side and understands that Zach in this particular play can take two and it allows him to sit on the Dereck Lively roll to the rim. DeMar’s timing was everything in this play he ended up getting the steal, which led to a fastbreak bucket.

How about seeing DeMar blow up a pick-and-roll? He saw Taurean Prince come off the screen shot the gap and stole the ball right out of Prince’s hands.

DeMar DeRozan is playing some great basketball on both sides of the floor right now. He’s adapted to the ways this team needs to play on both ends a bit to allow for more growth and opportunity. Yes, I understand some of the fanbase would like to get him traded to get more value for him. Other sides of the fanbase want him gone because they feel as though he may be taking touches away from Patrick Williams and other young guys, but from watching these last 11 games we’ve seen him and the young group co-exist. There is another faction of the fanbase that I would include myself in that would be fine either way, but my eyes tell me that he’s helping this team’s future thrive and improve.

When it’s all said and done Bulls fans around the world will have to give DeMar DeRozan his flowers.

The post DeMar Deserves His Flowers appeared first on Swish Theory.

In 2020, the Chicago Bulls selected Patrick Williams as the fourth overall pick in the NBA Draft. This was following a season in which the Bulls finished 22-43. When teams pick in the lottery, most of the time it’s due to a group not cutting it. Maybe there were injuries that led them to that record, not enough talent on the roster, scheme, roster fit, etc. So when you have a chance to pick that high you are swinging for the fences, hoping for a homerun type of player. Lottery picks usually have patience and opportunity from their organization early on. Patrick Williams has been afforded the patience part of the equation, but one could question the opportunity part of it.

Months after Patrick Williams was drafted the usual ramp-up period for newly drafted players was impacted heavily by the pandemic. Training camp was shortened, and there was no Summer League. Fast forward to March of the very same season and the Bulls had traded a young, promising big in Wendell Carter Jr. and more for Nikola Vucevic. This was an attempt to try to push for a play-in spot, where they fell short. A big reason for the move was to show Zach Lavine that they are trying to win now and want him in Chicago long-term. The look of the roster and the way the team tries to play offensively and defensively were altered. For a rookie just trying to figure things out, it can really impact you from a learning standpoint. The following summer, the Bulls again made big moves with the signings of Lonzo Ball and DeMar DeRozan. Putting Patrick’s development on the back burner and hoping he can develop while also trying to win.

My good friend Mark Schindler recently wrote an article about Providence College basketball star Bryce Hopkins. In that article, he wrote something that I really think speaks to the Patrick Williams situation at the moment: “Unless you’re on a team that goes all-in on developing youngsters, there’s generally less leeway to figure yourself out on both sides of the ball when you’re on a rookie scale contract, especially as a role player.” The reason that this quote stuck out to me is Patrick Williams hasn’t been given the opportunity even to show that he can be more than just a role player. I totally understand why the front office went out and brought in the services of DeMar DeRozan and Lonzo Ball, but the timing of those moves didn’t allow for Patrick Williams to develop and grow without the expectations of winning and going to the playoffs. The hope was that Patrick Williams could do enough to help the roster with his ability to switch defensively, rebound, and hit open shots (39% on 2 attempts from three in 2021). But this team has shown that it can’t win with the three stars that they have leading the ship and the injury to Lonzo Ball’s knee also throws a wrench into plans.

I think it’s time to clear the way for your young and upcoming legitimate two-way player. No more putting his development on the back burner, it’s time that this organization pushes its chips in and allows him to grow through his mistakes with more touches and opportunity to see what he can actually do in the NBA. Patrick Williams this season has shown you flashes of what he can be with more opportunity.

Let’s talk about it…

Shooting Improvement

Patrick Williams has a usage rate of 15% this season, which isn’t much of a difference from any of his years being in the league. Yet, in my eyes, he is still deserving of even more opportunity. His aggression has taken a leap in terms of more three-point attempts. During his rookie year, he was at 26% in 3PAr, and in his sophomore year was at 28% 3PAr (only played 17 games due to an injury of torn ligaments in his left wrist), and this season in 59 games he is sitting at 41% 3PAr. Yes, at times he can still seem hesitant, but I think it’s less about him turning down open looks and more about his ability to read closeouts faster–is it a short closeout or long closeout? Many folks like to harp on the speed of his release, but to me, it’s gauging and thinking a bit too much for his next course of action. We are seeing him take more contested threes as well. According to Synergy, Patrick Williams is shooting 37.5% on 80 contested three-point attempts, he’s shooting 42.7% on 125 open attempts. Patrick grades out in the 78th percentile in the catch-and-shoot category for Synergy. The skepticism about Patrick’s shooting should be put to rest.

Self-Creation Flashes

Draft evaluators were intrigued by Patrick Williams’ potential to play off the bounce against NBA-level defenders. The past couple of years you would seldom see flashes of self-creation. Even this season it was few and far between, but in the last month or so, the game seems to have slowed down for him. You are seeing him understand where he can get his own and how to play off of the stars more consistently.

Cleaning the Glass has Patrick Williams at 42% from long midrange (14 feet to just inside the three-point line) on 73 attempts. Drafting a player as high as fourth the hope is that player can bring some semblance of self-creation, being able to get his own shot is a necessary piece to earning more responsibility on his plate. 22 percent of his shots are unassisted so far this season and that’s only one percent more than his ROOKIE year. The problem that Patrick Williams has in front of him right now is that he plays in a hierarchy that includes all of DeMar DeRozan, Zach Lavine, and Nikola Vucevic. Patrick’s touches and opportunities come after those three get their own. So, with shooting just under 10 attempts per game, it is going to be an uphill battle for him to get those attempts up with his usage being so low. This is due to the fact that two of those three stars are some of the best isolation players in the league.

Pick-and-Roll Ballhandler Intrigue

Part of the reason I am writing this article is due to the roster construction restricting Patrick Williams from exploring his game. This Chicago Bulls roster forces Patrick Williams to be in more of a floor-spacing role because of the lack of shooting on the roster. But when I watch the games closely, there are things that catch my eye about this young 21-year-old. When I pull up Synergy for Patrick WIlliams and look at his play types page there is something that sticks out to me and entices me to wonder what it could look like if Patrick Williams was given more reps in pick-and-roll as the ballhandler. Take a look at these numbers:

Patrick Williams has a unique skill set and body type that could lead to being a good pick-and-roll ballhandler and adequate passer. He has enough size to keep screen navigators in jail and he has the mid-range pull-up shooting (as detailed above) needed to be successful. One of the things that I would like to see more of is his passing out of pick-and-roll. He has shown in his time so far that he can make live dribble passing reads, but the reps have not been plentiful enough to be super encouraged about it. Patrick Williams can be a scorer out of pick-and-roll, but he needs more reps and opportunities to show it off. At the moment, I do believe that having Patrick Williams be the recipient of second-side pick-and-rolls with Nikola Vucevic as the roller or popping big is something that should be experimented with more often.

Patrick Williams is a part of both positive lineups that help this team play to the best of their ability. Take a look:

The Defensive End of The Floor: Already a Wing-Stopper

In the 2022-2023 NBA season, the Chicago Bulls needed Patrick Williams to take a leap defensively. With the illusion that Lonzo Ball would be back during the season, the Bulls needed Patrick Williams to truly become that big-wing defender to help solidify the perimeter defense. According to Synergy, Patrick Williams grades out in the 89th percentile, only allowing 0.70 PPP in isolation. Patrick Williams has held up his end of the bargain by truly becoming a damn good defender. I think the game has slowed down for him on that end of the floor and he is starting to recognize actions before they happen.

Point-of-Attack Defense

In the NBA guarding the point-of-attack is only one part of a good team defense, but it’s even more important if you don’t have a rim-protecting stalwart on the backend. It’s rare to find a team that does both aspects of defense great at the same time. If you have a great shot blocker for the most part it’s hard to have and find an Alex Caruso-level defender to muck up the start of action for the opposing team. When the defense has great point-of-attack defenders it’s so hard to pair them with great rim protectors. Mostly because of money reasons, because the best rim protectors are rostered. This is why the Chicago Bulls need to play aggressively on the ball and cause havoc.

The concept is to disrupt as much as possible in order to negate paint touches. The last part of point-of-attack defense is “can the defender guard without fouling?” and Patrick Williams is doing that at a pretty nice level. Especially for someone that guards the best of the best every single night. He ranks in the 95th percentile in foul percentage (how many defensive fouls did the player commit per play), when you look at the difficulty of matchups for Patrick Williams on a nightly basis the ability to guard without fouling puts him in the same rank as Kawhi Leonard, Kevin Durant, Devin Vassell just to name a few, according to Cleaningtheglass.com.

Help-Side Defense

The on-ball defense of Patrick Williams has been very thrilling, but with Alex Caruso on his team, the Bulls’ greater need is for Pat to fill the weakside rotator/sweeper role. He’s done an exceptional job of correctly ranging from low-man tagging the rollers and getting back out to shooters for a strong contest. He’s becoming more of a high-level, adaptable defender. His footwork on his closeouts has become more fluid and allowing him to keep his balance while having to react to drives. While in help situations, he has evolved into being more observant and well-positioned according to the ball. While off-ball you can now see him processing quicker and getting his hands on the basketball, whether it’s a skip pass, or digging on drives. The overall display of defense for Patrick Williams shouldn’t be overshadowed by this Bulls team’s downward spiral.

In Conclusion

Three years ago, I started watching Patrick Williams closely while he was a Florida State Seminole. The 6’7 forward flashed so many tools. The combination of size and ball skills was tantalizing at times, mix that with his switchability on the defensive end and I thought you had a player worth taking a chance on. The vision was clear to me from the Bulls’ front office perspective. They drafted the youngest American-born player in the 2020 NBA Draft who needed time to develop and find who he was at the NBA level.

This roster construction of this Bulls team is an apparent factor in Williams having to be more of a floor spacer on offense. His team needs more shooting, and a floor general that can get this team into the offense a bit faster and into the right sets. Once those roles are filled I think that will help Patrick slide into more of a secondary creator role, second-side pick-and-rolls and creating for himself against tilted defenses. I truly believe in this young ascending player’s ability to be more than a role player, but he needs more opportunities and usage to get that done.

A wise friend once mentioned to me that there’s no guarantee that the drafted player’s team will have their best interests in mind at all points. It’s time for a change.

The post Patrick Williams: More Than A Role Player appeared first on Swish Theory.

As for the Chicago Bulls, last season they surprised the NBA world with their success, eventually making the playoffs as the sixth seed after being seen by many as a fringe playoff team pre-season. DeMar DeRozan played his way into a 2^nd team All-NBA selection. Nikola Vucevic didn’t live up to expectations while dealing with inconsistencies, but he managed to finish the season with a respectable stat line of 17-11-3-1-1 (53% true shooting). Zach Lavine had an injury-riddled season, quietly averaged 24-4-4, and ranked seventh in the league in true shooting (60%).

The Bulls’ problems last year offensively pertained to how reliant they were on isolation masterclasses from Zach Lavine and DeMar DeRozan in the halfcourt. There were too many times when there wasn’t enough player movement. When a team feels comfortable enough to leave and go help on drives because there is no respected floor spacer, it leads to a lot of mucked-up space for your offense to attack.

This preseason the Bulls displayed some different wrinkles within their offense to help find easier baskets. Let’s take a look to see what that means for their hopes this upcoming season.

Three Stars Combined

I’m not a big fan of the saying “you shouldn’t take anything out of the preseason,” because I do believe there are valuable points to be gathered. Teams usually like to experiment with notable lineups and sets to get a good look at how a defense may react. The Bulls being able to use Zach, DeMar and Vucevic in a certain action led to an advantage.

Look at this SLOB(sideline out of bounds) here.

This is a sideline out of bounds play that ends up with Zach Lavine getting a look from three in the corner. The result of the play looks good, but it’s all about the process. Looking at plays and watching the process is the fun part of watching film for me. In this particular play DeMar gets a pindown from Javonte Green to get an easier catch. Now, Vucevic comes over to set a ball screen. After the pindown take a look at the Bulls alignment on the floor. Goran Dragic after the inbounds pass is now in the corner and Javonte is now on the strong side wing after the his screen. This creates an opportunity for the Bulls to get an advantage if DeMar can put Garrett Temple on his hip. Which leads to a three on two advantage for the Bulls because Temple would be considered out of the play.

The Pelicans are playing ICE against the ball screen, which is to force the ball handler away from middle penetration and cutting off other scoring options.

Take a look at how high Hernangomez is at the point of attack. That is in response to the ball handler being DeMar DeRozan who shot 46% on 672 attempts from long mid range shots (outside of 14 feet and inside the three point arc) according to cleaningtheglass.com. When your big man at the point of attack is playing high or at the level of the screen it forces your back side defense in this case it would be Dyson Daniels to have to slide over in help more. Like I mentioned above, the alignment of the Bulls leads to leaving a rookie in Dyson all alone on the back side to decipher who he should guard between the rolling Vucevic or the drifting Zach Lavine. DeRozan does a great job of reading the play and skips over to Zach in the corner which leads to a make from three.

This half court set is also another wrinkle that the Bulls have been running. They start with Vucevic and Lavine setting staggered screens for DeMar to come off in order to get a clean catch. Right after that action happens you get a ram screen (an offensive action in which a player receives an off-ball screen then sets a ballscreen) for Lavine from Vucevic. Now, before we get to the next couple of actions it’s key to know that the Raptors were switching a lot, so the Bulls were looking for a good matchup to attack. So, after the ram screen, Lavine then sets a ballscreen for DeMar and gets out of it which resembles a flare. Right after that, Vucevic sets a ballscreen for DeMar and the Raptors switch it. Which then gets Scottie Barnes on DeMar. This is in no way shade at the young Barnes, but if there was a part of his game that he would want to improve on it would be on-ball defense. DeMar immediately attacks and gets to his spot rises up and knocks it down.

Vucevic Post Touches

Coming into this season a lot of talk was around how to get Nikola Vucevic get back on track. While some have claimed he is on the steep decline, I am of the impression that last season was a tough one for him in a different role. It was refreshing to hear the Bulls talk about getting Vucevic post touches, though some fans respond, “Whoa, the game has changed. Why are the Bulls doing this?” To which I answer: when you enter the ball in the post it doesn’t necessarily mean the player has to shoot it. It’s ultimately a different look for the defense. You hear in football about how offenses want the defense to defend every blade of grass. Translate that into basketball terms and I think you have what the Bulls want to do.

In addition, with the Bulls not having a ton of shooting on this roster, you have to find different ways to threaten a defense. So, lets take a look at a couple plays from this preseason.

This opportunity for Vucevic is a great example of what it can do for your team, and especially when you have players who can shoot the ball off the catch or attack closeouts. Goran Dragic enters the ball in to the post and goes to set a split screen for Lavine. In this particular case Lavine sets up for a catch and shoot opportunity because his primary defender, Monte Morris, digs down and Vucevic kicks it back out. The Bulls are able to get into the teeth of the defense all thanks to a touch in the post.

Take a look at the video below and think about what it could do for a defense to have Zach Lavine running off those split screens for a three.

There are different counters for split action depending on how the defense plays the initial screen. If the defender is chasing over the screen you shoot the three or attack off the bounce if the screen doesn’t hit. The defender can also top block the offensive player, meaning the defender is not allowing you to go over the screen. In that case, the read should be to backdoor the action. For switching the action you can have the screener slip to defeat the defense. This variety of options is why I am fond of the split action, and even more so when you have a great shooter and finisher like Zach Lavine.

I absolutely love this set from the Bulls. Zach comes up to set a ballscreen for Ayo Dosunmu and the Nuggets switch it. Lavine then goes to the opposite block and gets an exit screen (a baseline screen set near the dunker spot for the cutter to cut to the corner) from Vucevic, also known as a corner pin. Once Lavine gets the ball, he doesn’t have the open shot because of Jamal Murray doing a great job of fighting over the screen, so it flows into a side ballscreen action. This leads to a dump off to the mid-post for Vucevic who backs down DeAndre Jordan for two pound dribbles and receives a dig from Murray. Nikola responds by immediately passing it back out to Lavine for a catch and shoot three. He knocks it down.

Player Movement + Ball Movement

One thing that was apparent in preseason was the emphasis of player movement and ball movement. Ball movement is essential to success on offense, but player movement can enhance the result of it. The video below will show the Bulls running a side ballscreen and the Nuggets are going to Ice it. When you ice a ballscreen it is hard for the defensive big to get back to a floor spacing big like Vucevic. In this case Vucevic pops and moves the ball quickly to a cutting Javonte Green as his defender, Michael Porter Jr., has to help DeAndre Jordan, leaving the cut open for Javonte in turn. This was a great example of offense made by early ball movement combined with active player movement.

Yes, it was the preseason, but movement in general is huge for this squad. The Bulls have two stud isolation players in Zach Lavine and DeMar DeRozan, but you shouldn’t have to rely on those qualities. Chicago having guys that can get their own bucket is valuable no doubt about it, but if you can make the game easier for your whole team to be a threat it only makes you that much harder to guard in the half court. Every blade of grass.

In Conclusion

Overall, this Chicago Bulls team will be able to score as long as health permits. The three stars fit together well, and they present different problems for the defense. With these new wrinkles being added to challenge defenses, it should only create more opportunity for this team to succeed even more on the offensive side. Now, that doesn’t mean that this team will instantly be a top five offense, but they have the ability to show different looks with keeping a defense concerned about all spots on the floor as their goal. Look for these Bulls to have a more fluid and connected offense with the whole team, not just the stars.

The post “Cover Every Blade”: A Preview of the Chicago Bulls Offense in 2022-23 appeared first on Swish Theory.