And so we begin.
“Bulls Nation. Bulls Nation. You know what time it is. You know.”
We do. Is this finally the “wait until next year” we’ve been waiting on? Only time will tell.
A 5-0 start. Undefeated as an L.A. boutique brand and an old ESPN subsite. Teams that were supposed to be their slayers — the Pistons, Magic, Hawks, Kings and Knicks — all left for defeat. Dead to us. Taking the NBA by surprise like V.J. Edgecombe and Austin Reaves. No superstar, but a sun on the squad in the horizon (a k a: Matas Buzelis). They find themselves sitting atop the Eastern Conference.
The early returns on the Bulls two weeks in: They just might be the most balanced team in the NBA. Seriously. Shockingly. If only Caleb Williams had the same start to his Year 2 that Buzelis already has had, this city would be on fire. Sorry, no O’Leary intended.
The full perspective on them as you read this: The Bulls are six-seven (meaningless) no more.
But a closer look will reveal that what’s going on with them is more informative and enlightening than their record shows. It’s the demons they’ve exorcised, the hate they’ve erased. This seems to be the Bulls’ edition of a “long time coming.” Their “I know you all have been waiting for a while, but here we are” unit. Their “this was never a rebuild because we never said we were ever in a rebuild, but this is what our version of our rebuild just happens to look like” plan.
Eleven-man-deep rotation. No Coby White (yet), no bench mob, no real “second unit.” All sums of one part. Twelve for all, all for 12. The new Bulls proverb. Depth be their superpower. Buy-ins, camaraderie, confidence and connectivity can be cumulative.
It all comes down to balance. And, as of now, it seems the Bulls and coach Billy Donovan finally have found it.
Four of their five games have been played at the UC, so that could be something worth considering. But why? Objectivity and rational thinking when this team is having a 2021 flashback start to the season seem stupid. Part of sports, especially when done responsibly, is to purposely get caught up and lost in moments like this. As there is — particularly with the Bulls’ recent 20-year past — never any assurance about how long these moments will last.
Yes, the test will be the seven-game stretch that began Friday via the Knicks that ends on Nov. 12 in the Pistons rematch. Before the season, if asked, they’d be lucky to maybe win one. Now, at worse, they could — should? — still be above .500 by the time they test themselves in Denver against the team that gave them their only road loss in the preseason.
Things done changed; the Bulls done changed. But for now, for being in this unexpected circumstance of unknown and way-too-early-to-know truth, we can say that the potential within them has reared its beautiful head and shown us all that this has the potential to be their new norm.
They’re second in the NBA behind the Nuggets in assists at just over 30 per game but fourth in turnovers at 18 per game. A realism that does not promote “still better than the Pistons, Cavs, Bucks and Pacers” in April, but if they get that plus-minus above 10 and maintain the current balance of having six or seven players averaging double figures in scoring with only two players averaging single-digit minutes, then the jury no longer will be out about them possibly hooping in May.
(And there’s this low-key notice: Taking charges on defense has seeped into the overall mentality of how this team rolls in comparison to last season. It so far has become a part of their defensive philosophy; last year, it was nonexistent at best.)
Eight players in double figures against the Hawks. Seven against the Magic. See, new norm. The small sample size of replacing their methodical “rectangle” offense with a pace-and-space flow that has them scoring at a frequency close to 58% (an 86 percentile, fifth in the league). And Buzelis? As NBA play-by-play maestro Mark Jones leaned over to Adam Amin and Stacey King after Buzelis’ switch-hands-in-midair finger roll in the fourth quarter of the Kings game had to ask: “Matas, he’s got some . . . like a little, little . . . oomph?” To say the least.
Balance is defined as a state of equilibrium. An even distribution of weight on each side of a vertical axis. An aesthetically pleasing integration of elements. A state in which different things occur in equal or proper amounts. The successful combination of both natural instinct and control . . . in what you can control.
Balance is young, connected, hungry and ballin’.
Balance is when we see red.
And so we’ve begun. Bulls Nation, you know what time it is? We do. The time — this time — is now. The Bulls may have transitioned from a suspect team into a legit ballclub. Finally, after all these years, doing what ballclubs do — ball.