Compared to the rest of the league this season, the Bulls offense is simply way too predictable. The NBA’s team stats reveals a lot about the current state of the offense:
* The Bulls rank 30th in off-ball cuts per game
* The Bulls rank 30th in off-ball screens per game
* The Bulls rank 30th in dribble hand-off actions per game
* The Bulls rank 30th in transition possessions per game
The Bulls are quite literally dead last in almost every offensive stat that looks at player movement. Coupled with that is the fact that the Bulls are not generating enough looks in transition (also dead last). The offense relies on half-court possessions more than any other team in the league, yet also generates the least amount of player movement and actions out of those half-court possessions.
A lot of the other teams in the NBA have a bag of offensive actions they like to go into to help gain leverage on the defense: usually a mix of pistol/21 sets, zoom actions, horns sets, spain pick-and-roll, delay action, and plenty more. From these comes a variety of flare screens, down screens, and overall a variety of movement in the offense that keeps the defense on their toes.
As the data tends to back up, the Bulls are not generating that type of leverage on defenses at all. Their favorite action outside of standard pick-and-roll seems to be [this double screen action at the top](https://streamable.com/stxl1y). They also like to use these double screens as drag screens in transition quite often. The Bulls DO run a few zoom/DHO looks per game, but ultimately are still dead last in player movement stats due to running these things way less than the rest of the NBA.
**So how do the Bulls generate offense then?**
* The Bulls are 3rd in pick-and-roll possessions per game
* The Bulls are 2nd in spot-up possessions per game
This more or less paints the picture. The majority of the offense is the Bulls running a pick-and-roll at the top with DeMar or Coby. The defense may or may not collapse on the ball-handler, and everyone else stands around waiting for a potential spot-up jumper. One issue is the Bulls do not grade well as a team on these shots. They are only 28th in 3-point shots made per game. Not every team is great at shooting threes, so you have to find other ways to make up for it and generate good looks. But the Bulls also do not get to the rim/free throw line at the rate you’d expect of a poor perimeter shooting team:
* The Bulls rank 16th in shot attempts at the rim
* The Bulls rank 18th in free throw attempts per game
In my eyes, this is directly a result of the lack of movement making it harder on themselves. There are so many actions the Bulls COULD be running to help them become a force at the rim, and in turn find more open perimeter shots (or at the very least get the defense unsettled so they can find another drive attempt). Instead, the Bulls find their shots elsewhere:
* 7th in shot attempts from 10-14 ft
* 2nd in shot attempts from 15-19 ft
* 5th in shot attempts from 20-24 ft
So in a league where the best teams are generating high-quality shots at the rim and from three, the Bulls generate most of their shots in this mid-range-ish to very-long 2PT area instead. This is not a sustainable way to play on offense at all, and exemplifies why the Bulls need to make some large changes at some point. For as long as this current core and coach stay together, this will be the result on offense.
by DirkToThePacers
23 Comments
Sounds like we need to get “younger and more athletic.”
How can they rank 32nd in a 30 team league lmao
Don’t care. ISO Demar
Billy Donovan relies too heavily on the fact he has “superstars”. I genuinely believe he never was able to adapt to the NBA and is getting by with the way he coached in Florida. The offense is so stagnant and boring to watch and the little talent we do have is being worked to their breaking point.
With that being said, the young guys are being forced into difficult situations (except ayo who excels on fast breaks because of his speed). Billy’s coaching style is lazy and that laziness is infectious throughout the entire team and we will continue to be a below average franchise until something is done about that
I low key hope that billy takes the job at Kentucky because not only do I think he would do the job well it would also make the bulls a better Pro level team. It’s so hard watching these young guys with talent be forced to watch Demar and Zach dance with the ball for 20 second and chuck a contest shot.
Yeah but how cool would it be if Deebo wins clutch player of the year and Coby most improved?
This is why I abhor watching this team, the offense is archaic, we just spam PnRs while everyone else stands around at the 3 point line
You’d think having such a lack of 3-point shooters would encourage more off-ball cuts and emphasis on transition buckets but no
Drink up
Excellent dissection of WHY the offense is so bad, and honestly it’s been predictable the entire season. Eye test has made it pretty obvious that Coby or demar immediately get the ball after defensive rebounds, bring it up, and immediately initiate PNR with vuc. 0 variety. What’s moving is the data shows the extend of how bad this is. I want change so bad, this year has been extremely upsetting for me.
Wow. *No way*
Wait… you mean the old “Send Ayo to the corner while Coby or Demar work off lazy screens from Vuc and try to create off the dribble and not get any size in the paint for offensive rebounds” doesn’t work? Well I’m all out of ideas.
I think having a starter caliber point guard may help. Let’s fix that.
What do you mean? Lavine is coming back. Lol
This probably is because the core of this team is DeMar and Vuc. But credit to DeMar — this team has 38 wins despite all this lmao. When he’s on it’s incredible, even if he doesn’t play modern NBA basketball.
Anyway it won’t change unless DeMar and Vuc are off the team. Billy is fine, he’s not an elite coach, he’s not a terrible coach. Bulls can move on from him or not, I don’t really care, but it won’t make a huge difference if DeMar and Vuc are still the core.
they play an antiquated style of basketball. and they have for 3 years now.
Well I mean 3 of our 4 best 3pt shooters are out with injuries and Vuc can’t shoot a golf ball into the rim from 3ft. Only ones who consistently attack the rim are Demar and Ayo.
It’s a shame that we never can see this team fully healthy, but I doubt we achieve anything even if they’re all healthy
Love this post. I’m just curious what other teams did you see in the bottom five in these categories?
These are the reasons we need to blow this thing up.
But Jerry sees the play in as success. Seats in the UC keep his coffers warm.
I want to see a fun team.
We have such a likeable team but damn it’s hard to be excited.
Coby MIP will be the best thing this season.
But it’s not reason to keep this thing going.
Trade Vooch, DeMar, Zach, and AC. Let’s get some picks and players back.
Let Billy go away and get an innovative good coach.
Fleming,Vanterpol, Atkinson, someone who would be good for us going forward
OP, I’m sorry you had to post the one thing everyone already knew. I applaud your effort and will be there with you watching the play-in and hating every minute of it
The lack of DHO is the most baffling lol because we actually have the personnel to use those. And I swear we spammed DHO in the LaVine Boylen days.
> The Bulls rank 30th in off-ball screens per game
> The Bulls rank 30th in dribble hand-off actions per game
The fact that half the roster is injured, and we still have the same outcomes, indicates that the issue is far deeper than roster construction. These stats are coaching and schematic stats IMO.
I think part of the reason you don’t see a ton of off ball movement and cuts is how trash the Bulls ball handlers arre at entry passes. Our best entry passers by far is Alex and he’s basically average. Look how often Vooch and Drummond get into the post on a miss match and the Bulls just swing the ball around because they can’t find a passing lane.
Or the times where they do throw it in on a cut and the ball is out of reach and a turn over. Add to that our best player is an iso heavy guard who doesn’t want cuts towards him bringing in extra defenders and this team literally can’t play on cuts and movement.
The entire offense is literally DeMar spam PNR until he wants to shoot it , or someone else is wide open
I dont see Floppy , High Post entries , Horns or even the Spanish PNR
We got 38 wins on the backs of DeMar doing everything on offense
Donovan needs to go, but anytime we win two in a row a bunch of incompetent dweebs/AK bots put on their capes. He’s awful.