The Chicago Bulls are back! They kicked off their season in Miami on Wednesday with a win and while the Chicago Bulls didn’t add any star power, they did solidify their bench.
Their bench unit features multiple guards who can handle the ball, several athletic wings, and an actual backup big man in Andre Drummond.
If this Bulls team stays healthy and is given a real chance to gel, it has a chance to be one of the deepest teams in the league, solving the biggest issue from last season.
However, they’re not getting much love from the national audience, as evidenced by their rankings in the power rankings:
ESPN: 17thThe Athletic: 17thBleacher Report: 18thThe Ringer: 18thNBA.com: 17th
The Chicago Bulls season can go a lot of different ways during this season.
The book has been seemingly written about this Bulls team and it appears to be unanimous across league experts.
While the level of optimism among the fanbase surely places the Bulls higher among the rest of the league, their performance against top teams a year ago in combination with the injury bug and their roster on paper objectively places them outside the contention tier in the NBA.
I wrote previously about the different things we should expect from this Bulls team if we truly expect them to contend including another ascension from Zach LaVine, a breakout year from Patrick Williams, and the emergence of Ayo Dosunmu as a reliable point guard.
However, these are not givens and it’s why many are still low on the Bulls this season. ESPN forecasts the Bulls to win 44 games this season, but other analytics sites such as FiveThirtyEight have them at 35-47, good for the 11th seed in the East.
In this slideshow, I take a look at where the Bulls team expectations lay this season and what describes a successful/exceeding expectations type of season, an underwhelming season, and lastly what this fanbase should ultimately expect from the Chicago Bulls in 2022-23.