Bulls Hot Takes 2 Months into 2022-23 NBA Season

Two months into the 2022-23 NBA season, the Chicago Bulls are already veering toward a crossroads.

They still have time to salvage their campaign, of course, but it would take a much stronger showing than they've delivered to date.

Then again, with more bad news on the injury front for Lonzo Ball and Chicago owing a top-four protected pick to the Orlando Magic, there has to be at least some consideration for pulling the plug on this core and unloading veterans for assets this trade season.

So, should they push forward with this group and hope it can rediscover the secret sauce that propelled the team to a sixth-place finish in the Eastern Conference last season? Or is it time to start scripting the next chapter?

We'll tackle that tricky question and more while highlighting some early hot takes from the Windy City.

Talent-wise, Lonzo Ball might not crack the Bulls' top three. In terms of value, though, he just might be the most critical player in Chicago.

It's probably too simple to directly tie the Bulls' biggest issues to his absence this season. Then again, last season felt like an 82-game tribute to his importance.

When the 25-year-old injured his knee on Jan. 14, Chicago was 27-13 with the Association's eighth-best net rating (plus-2.7, per NBA.com). Once he was removed from the equation, though, the Bulls went just 19-23 while falling to 21st in net efficiency (minus-3.6). For the season, they were 5.2 points better per 100 possessions with him than without.

Ball is the connector at both ends. On offense, he's the ball-mover who keeps Chicago's top scorers involved and engaged. His hit-ahead passes breathed life into the transition attack, while his spot-up shooting helped him remain helpful off the ball. On defense, he was the head of the snake who gave this group a stingy, disruptive presence at the point of attack.

The Bulls don't have another floor general of his ilk. That's what has made this nagging knee problem so completely crushing.

A wide-angle lens of the Bulls paints Patrick Williams, the No. 4 pick n 2020, as the primary piece of their long-term plans. A narrower view, however, shows the swingman too often playing a bit role where he isn't involved often enough.

Now, some of this issue is self-inflicted. The 21-year-old can be maddeningly hesitant to involve himself. He'll have games in which he appears every bit the two-way big wing this group really needs to level up. He'll have others in which he disappears into the background.

If the Bulls do nothing else this season, they need to find the key that unlocks Williams' aggressiveness. Well, that or use his upside to tempt the right trade-market shopper into sending a difference-maker to Chicago.

It's hard to tell what coach Billy Donovan and his staff can do to get the Florida State product going, but something's gotta give. Right now, he's averaging just 7.6 shots per game, which ranks fifth on the team and slots him between Ayo Dosunmu, who has lost his starting spot, and Coby White, whose floor time varies wildly from one night to the next.

With the trade market heating up, all eyes of the hoops world are on the Windy City.

"Everyone is watching Chicago very closely," an NBA source told B/R's Eric Pincus. "They're so poorly constructed, they need to blow it up."

That's surely hard to hear for a front office that has invested serious resources into building this roster. It's even worse knowing that when this group was whole last season, it was plenty formidable.

Unfortunately, though, it's also true.

Look, maybe a healthy Ball would bring the Bulls together once again, but who's to say when he'll be healthy again? The Bulls can't afford to wait. The prize probably isn't big enough to justify more patience. And that's before factoring in the potential prize of possibly keeping that first-round pick away from Orlando should it land high enough in the lottery.

Chicago's Big Three of Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vučević (an unrestricted free agent after this season) just haven't been very good together. This season, they've posted a minus-2.8 net rating across 501 minutes. Last season, they had a minus-1.1 net rating over 1,206 minutes. This isn't working.

If there's a silver lining here, it's that there aren't a number of obvious sellers with win-now pieces to dangle in front of championship contenders and playoff hopefuls. The Bulls would zip to the top of that list if they opt to tear it down, though.

From stars to role players, Chicago has a ton to offer the trade market and should reasonably expect a bounty in return.