The Chicago Bulls are showing more than interesting things this season, surprising everybody around the league with their impressive displays. They currently sit atop the Eastern Conference standings, surpassing the Brooklyn Nets, Miami Heat, and Milwaukee Bucks, respectively.
After several underwhelming seasons, nobody thought Chicago could make a splash this campaign, but they’re proving everybody wrong after making the right additions during the summer. Following the landing of Nikola Vucevic last season, the Bulls added DeMar DeRozan, Lonzo Ball, and Alex Caruso to create a terrific team.
They are playing at a great level right now, turning a lot of heads to them. If somebody doubted this team, they made sure to shut that down. JJ Redick recently admitted he was wrong about the Bulls, giving them some props and comparing them to one of the best teams in the league last season.
Talking on his ‘The Old Man and the Three’ podcast, Redick addressed his initial comments on the Bulls, owning his mistake and saying they look like the Phoenix Suns last season.
“I’ll eat my crow here Tommy, you were right about the Bulls last summer,” Redick first stated. “I made fun of you for thinking the Bulls won the offseason. … I will admit, I was wrong.”
Moreover, he compared their stars, Zach LaVine and Devin Booker. They were joined by two stars with previous playoffs experience and so far, it’s working just fine for both players.
“Prior to [Chris Paul] going to Phoenix, Devin Booker had never played in the playoffs. And there was a lot of noise about whether or not he could be a great player on a great team,” Redick explained. “Clearly, that was wrong. And I think there’s a decent comparison there between Devin and Zach LaVine.”
Zach has big chances of making it to the playoffs this year and in a similar fashion to the Suns. Phoenix was the No. 2 seed in the West last season and Chicago is leading the East now.
“Similar points in their career, the Suns sign CP [and] the Bulls sign DeMar,” Redick said. “The Suns sign a hard-nosed, winning-play-type mentality guy in Jae Crowder, the Bulls do that with Caruso. If you look at numbers, there’s a similarity between Deandre Ayton and Nikola Vucevic.”
“There weren’t great expectations about the Suns last year. … I don’t think anybody envisioned the Suns making the Finals and I don’t think anybody envisioned the Bulls, now [36] games into the season, being in first place in the East.”
Chicago is shocking the world this season. Even after DeMar DeRozan was considered the worst move of the offseason, his game has improved and he keeps showing that quality that made him one of the best players in the league with Toronto.
LaVine keeps improving his level, while Vucevic has found his spot on the team. Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso quickly meshed with the rest of the squad, creating this dangerous team that can make a lot of noise this season. Watch out with these Bulls. They can shock the world, just like the Suns did last year.
