After Five Years Bulls End Playoff Drought

 April 15, 2022

In the two years since the Bulls hired Arturas Karnisovas (AK) as President of Basketball Operations, Zach LaVine and Coby White are the only two players left on the roster he inherited. Karnisovas has done a great job putting together a competitive Bulls team without a rebuild. In his first year, trying to make the playoffs, he traded for all-star center Nicolas Vucevic. That may have worked if Zach LaVine wasn’t out of the line-up for the last 14 games.

After a year of watching, AK went to work. He signed 24 year old point guard Lonzo Ball to run the offense. Forward DeMar DeRozan was signed to ease the burden on LaVine to score points. A move that was under the radar was adding Alex Caruso, whose defensive tenacity made him a favorite of Bulls fans. The Bulls did not have a first round pick however, they found first round talent when they drafted Ayo Dosunmu in the second round.

I felt the team would be better, hoping they could play .500, be a 7-10 seed and in the play in round of the playoffs. The team ended up ten games over .500 and secured the number 6 seed in the playoffs. They exceeded my expectations and normally I would have been extremely satisfied.

The Bulls started the season on fire and had the best record in the Eastern Conference. DeRozan is having the best season of his career. He hit a couple of game winning baskets with the clock expiring. He was also Mr. Clutch and was among the leaders in points scored in the fourth quarter. Many of the wins were predicated by the defense. I was dreaming of what could have been a 50 victory season with a high playoff seed. Disaster struck as Ball and Caruso, their best defensive players, got injured in the same week. Both were expected to be out for six weeks. Caruso is back but has been playing hurt and Ball will not return until next year. It didn’t help that LaVine has been playing with an injury as well.

The Bulls have been struggling ever since, especially against the top seeds. The only thing the Bulls have going for them is Caruso and LaVine have had time to heal. Budding star Patrick Williams is also ready to go full bore. Vucevic needs to be more consistent. In the first two close games against the Milwaukee Bucks he put up 20 points. With all this going for them, the Bulls still probably don’t win one game, let alone the series.

With AK in charge, I am excited regarding the future. I’m sure he will be active to improve this team to compete with the upper echelon. For continued success, you have to avoid injuries and with the continued improvement on the part of their young core.