Bulls set to begin training camp with the gang all together again

From the night the Bulls were eliminated by the Bucks in the first round of the playoffs in the spring, ‘‘continuity’’ was the buzzword from the organization.

And why not? It’s comforting for a fan base and something easy to embrace.

So hand Zach LaVine a $215 million max contract extension? Sure, the fans love LaVine.

Bring back DeMar DeRozan, who is coming off a career season but now is 33 years old? Absolutely.

Drink the Kool-Aid on Nikola Vucevic just having a down shooting season in 2021-22? There’s no way he shoots 31.4% from three-point range again, is there?

But Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas didn’t just approach continuity on a leap of faith based on his Big Three, either. There was a sample that couldn’t be denied.

In November and December of last season — before there was a line of bodies waiting to get into the training room — the Bulls were good. In fact, they were great on some nights.

A team doesn’t lead the Eastern Conference for weeks solely on luck. The backcourt of LaVine, Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso and even rookie Ayo Dosunmu was as disruptive defensively as any collection of guards in the NBA, and DeRozan was establishing himself as Mr. Clutch, an assassin in the fourth quarter.

It was a lethal combination and one that appeared to have staying power. That is, until it didn’t.

So while continuity was a good plan on the surface, let’s see how durable it really might be.

While there’s no denying the Bulls played like a first-place team when things were going well last season, one issue can’t be overlooked: Whom were they beating? The reality is that the Bulls climbed the mountain by beating bad teams.

It was a much different story against the NBA’s elite. Including the playoffs, the Bulls were 3-25 against opponents with a winning percentage of .600 or higher. They were 1-14 against the top four teams in the Eastern Conference in the regular season.

But in charting the Bulls’ offseason path, Karnisovas & Co. figured the team was banged up when it faced the rough part of the schedule.

There is some truth to that, but a look at the roster leads to the next question: When aren’t some of these players banged up?

Ball, who is scheduled to have another surgery on his left knee Wednesday, has played in an average of 50.4 games per season since being drafted in 2017, Caruso’s playing style should warrant a crash helmet and LaVine seems to have a black cat living with him every season, especially when it comes to the NBA’s health-and-safety protocols.

So with media day kicking off training camp Monday, buzzwords such as ‘‘continuity’’ are cute, but they’re not always realistic.

‘‘Leading into [this] training camp, there’s going to definitely be improvements being together for a longer time,’’ Karnisovas said when asked during the summer about keeping the group together. ‘‘Again, you’re playing against Milwaukee, against Philly, against Boston, against Miami. They’ve been together for a long time. Continuity is valuable.’’

The Bulls must hope it’s not also misleading.