With less than 9% of the NBA’s regular season in the books, it’s too early to call sample sizes trends.
That’s especially true when it comes to the Bulls, who counted on ‘‘continuity’’ to help them close the gap in the Eastern Conference when they made their offseason roster decisions. Instead, they have been dealt a cruel hand in that department.
Point guard Lonzo Ball had knee surgery in late September and still is waiting to be re-evaluated.
Shooting guard Zach LaVine signed a max contract as a free agent, but a program to manage the load on his surgically repaired left knee has seen him as a part-time regular in games and practices so far.
The defense has been great in the second and third quarters but suspect when it comes to starting and finishing games.
As forward DeMar DeRozan pointed out, it’s only the defense that the players in the locker room have control over.
‘‘It just hasn’t been good enough, especially at the start of games,’’ DeRozan said. ‘‘We’ve got to come out more aggressive and not let teams get comfortable. We have too much indecision. We’ve got to take out the indecision once they hit a couple of shots. We’ve got to make them do something else.’’
DeRozan was right about one thing: Opposing teams are operating way too comfortably against the Bulls.
The Bulls are 15th in the NBA at 113.1 points per game allowed, but they are 24th in field-goal percentage (47.8%) and 28th in three-point percentage (43.2%) allowed.
A healthy Ball will help that when (or if) he returns this season, but LaVine’s situation is proving to be much trickier. Defense is about communicating and repetition, especially when the focus of that defense is on a backcourt playing a disruptive style. That’s hard to do when LaVine is operating under restrictions.
The LaVine the Bulls watched play tenacious defense with Team USA in the Summer Olympics last year and into the first six weeks of last season is gone — or at least on sabbatical for a time.
LaVine’s defensive rating in 2019-20 was a career-best 110.4. He was well on his way to breaking that early last season before his left knee started to betray him. By the end of the season, he had a career-worst rating of 116.1.
In the four games he has played in so far this season, he sits at 114.6, which is worse than his career average of 113.7.
The Bulls gave LaVine a five-year, $215 million contract with the hope that he would remain an elite scorer and continue inching his way to being more of a two-way player. That appears unlikely now, at least this season.
Still, that doesn’t mean executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas shouldn’t sleep well at night. His bench additions — guard Goran Dragic and big man Andre Drummond — have made a bigger impact than expected.
Dragic has proved to be the leader of the second unit, leading the Bulls in plus/minus with a plus-31. And he has done that in 17.4 minutes per game.
Drummond, who still was dealing with a shoulder issue Monday, hasn’t been far behind. He is tied for second in plus/minus with guard Alex Caruso at plus-29 in 16.8 minutes per game.
But the most important stat Karnisovas can embrace is that two of the Bulls’ three victories have come against the Heat and Celtics, both of whom are expected to be playoff teams. Last season, they were a combined 1-14 against the Heat, Celtics, 76ers and Bucks. They’re 2-1 against those teams so far this season and had the 76ers on the ropes Saturday.
A meaningless sample size? The Bulls hope not.
