It was a fair question to ask.
Considering the last week for Bulls coach Billy Donovan and his team, it was more than fair.
With Josh Giddey putting up impressive all-around numbers on the offensive side of the ball, has the guard done enough on the defensive side to start an All-Star campaign?
After all, second-year forward Matas Buzelis might have the highest ceiling but has still been going through some growing pains, and guard Coby White, who is the team’s best pure scorer, is yet to play, sidelined since August with a right calf strain.
That’s allowed Giddey to pick up where he left off the last six weeks of the 2024-25 campaign and help carry the Bulls to a somewhat surprising 6-4 start.
But does he have the momentum to take that jump to All-Star, especially when teams like Cleveland targeted him on the defensive end late in Saturday’s Bulls loss.
“He’s gotten better,” Donovan said of Giddey and his defense. “Josh has always been a pretty physical guy. The one area I think he’s gotten really good at is when we’ve played him on big forwards or guys with length, he’s done a pretty good job handling those guys.
“Against any player where it’s in space, the guy can really put it down and drive it, those are areas where it can’t be all on him. We’ve got to show some help and put bodies there, but he’s got to be able to contain the basketball. I do think when somebody gets targeted, generally it’s the initial part of the target that he’s got to get better at. I do feel like he’s made some really positive strides there.”
All-Star strides?
That remains to be seen, but it needs to be by someone on that roster and fast.
What’s become very evident is that while the Bulls have depth and a very good offensive system, missing at the end of close games — evident by three-straight losses — is that dude.
Milwaukee flexed that type of player, as the Bulls had no answer for Giannis Antetokounmpo and his 19 fourth-quarter points on Friday. A night later, Donovan Mitchell scored 13 of his 29 in crunch time. Then Victor Wembanyama went all unicorn on Monday, scoring 18 of his 38 in the final quarter.
And it wasn’t real difficult, especially late.
All San Antonio did with just over a minute left and down three was put the ball in Wembanyama’s hands and spread the floor. If the Bulls tried to blitz him or attack him with a double team, he’s big enough and smart enough to rotate the ball for an open shot.
Maybe they should have, because with Nikola Vucevic on him and playing solid defense, Wembanyama hit a three with a minute left and went back to the long-range shot with 27.9 seconds left. Isolation basketball at its finest. The type of basketball that was front and center through most of the playoffs last year late in games.
“Obviously he’s very unique with his height, his ability to pretty much play like a wing, body of a big man,” Vucevic said of Wembanyama. “Just a tough matchup, especially when he gets it going like he did (Monday).”
Well, who on the Bulls can get it going like that? That’s the on-going issue. Maybe the strength of the Bulls offense is the up-tempo system itself. Unfortunately, elite NBA talent eliminates a lot of systems, especially in April, May and June.
The good news? The season is just 10 games old for the Bulls. Buzelis is learning, White is getting healthy, and Giddey is improving on both sides of the ball.
One of them could step up to NBA All-Star royalty. The Bulls better hope so.
