Despite having their superstar and leader, Derrick Rose, back after 1.5 years the Chicago Bulls haven’t started the 2013-2014 season as they wanted. After five games in the season they are now 2-3 and they worst thing is that the team doesn’t perform as every Bulls fans would like to.
The Bulls lost two significant games against potential playoff opponents. After falling to the Miami Heat in the season opener 107-95 they also lost by the Indiana Pacers 97-80. The only victory the Bulls got against a top-tier team was against the New York Knicks. Even that came close, thanks to the late game heroics from Rose, who hit a game-winning floater.
Although Rose seems to be 100 percent healthy, he still hasn’t found the ways to score, at least not at the rates he used to prior to his torn ACL injury. He is averaging just 14.4 points per game, 4.0 assists, 2.8 rebounds and 0.2 steals. He also shoots at a 32.0 percent rate from the floor and 27.3 percent from three point range. In addition, his turnover-average is higher than his assist. Rose is committing 5.0 turnovers per game at an average.
Now, the 25-year old point guard is expected to eventually find his touches and get things going. However, at the moment, the Bulls look mostly like a short-handed beast rather than a surging one. The team’s offense heavily relies on Rose and as long as he doesn’t perform like we all know he can, the Bulls will struggle.
Of course, Tom Thibodeau’s team knows how to play lock-down defense. The Bulls rank second in points allowed in the NBA with 93.0 points per game and also fourth in rebounding with 45.6 rebounds per game. However, they also rank 28th in the league in scoring. That aspect of their game has to change if they want to actually contend for a title this season.
Luol Deng, Carlos Boozer, Joakim Noah and Jimmy Butler will all do their work. They know how to play defense and also produce some offense. But that’s it. Derrick Rose is the one who has to take the team to the next level and that still hasn’t happened.
At the moment, patience should prevail in Chicago instead of panic. There is a long road ahead in the regular season and the team will have multiple chances to gain the lost ground. After all, the playoffs’ course is what’s most important for any title contender. Hopefully, Rose will soon find his rhythm and help the Bulls be surging offensively once again.
Even after his slow start, Rose’s decision to stay out during the entire 2012-2013 campaign proves to be the correct one. Because even if he returned last season or during the playoffs, he wouldn’t be able to produce much for the Bulls and he would also risk a setback in his rehabilitation process. Now, going full throttle and feeling confident with his legs, he can gradually get back to his usual dominant performances.
Ron Leyba is the content manager of Fantasy Basketball Money Leagues – premier source of fantasy basketball updates, rankings and rumors. His latest blog post discusses the fantasy basketball sleepers of 2014. For more of his fantasy basketball updates, follow Fantasy Basketball Money Leagues Google+ account.