DeMar DeRozan: Fans clamoring for Bulls to rebuild ‘don’t understand basketball at all’ originally appeared on NBC Sports Chicago
The Bulls are running it back. Again.
The majority is clamoring for the Bulls to give up on the roster they built and polished during the summer of 2021. But management has preached “continuity” and their belief that this core can achieve what they expect from them.
That frame of mind resonates with the players, too.
What about those who suggest the Bulls start rebuilding?
“I think a lot of people who say that or suggest that really don’t understand basketball at all, in my opinion,” DeMar DeRozan told Sportskeeda. “You can think that’s an answer or that’s a route. But there’s no telling how long that route is going to even last. That route doesn’t necessarily always work in a timely fashion that you may think it will take. With that, it’s hard to find and create talented players like the players that we already have assembled. We made a lot of mistakes. It’s not only on the players, but the coaching staff as well to be able to correct the mistakes that we have because we weren’t far off at all with the mistakes that we’ve had.
“If we correct those, give us back the 10 to 15 games that we should’ve had last season. That changes the whole dynamic of everything. It’s always easy when something goes bad just to say, ‘Scratch it.’ But you really don’t know where you’ll end up from there. So when I hear people say that, it lets me know and understand that they don’t understand basketball at all. From my standpoint, you just control what you can control. That’s going out there, working your butt off, being a leader and understanding what needs to be corrected and go from there.”
Last season, the Bulls finished with a lowly 40-42 record during the regular season. That marked over 10 fewer wins they racked up the season prior. Even then, during the 2021-22 season, the Milwaukee Bucks showed them they don’t belong on the same level as top teams in the league, smoking them 4-1 in the first round of the playoffs.
It went downhill from there last season. They failed to make it to the playoffs, losing to the Miami Heat in the Eastern Conference Play-In tournament.
Surprisingly, the Bulls finished as the eighth-best defense in the NBA. On offense, it was a whole other story. They finished with the eight-worst offense in the league.
Injuries have hampered their play, certainly. Lonzo Ball’s prolonged absence and nebulous return haven’t made things easier. The Bulls, unequivocally, were a far better team with Ball running point than without. This season, the Bulls will host a competition for the starting point guard position.
Even so, DeRozan believes he knows the root of the team’s issues last season.
“It’s just being more in tune offensively and defensively than we were last season,” DeRozan said. “We had a lot of great moments. But we didn’t sustain those great moments. Once we understand the sustainability with what it takes to win, that will make us better. We have what it takes. It’s just about understanding and knowing we have to do things to sustain a winning culture. Once we implement that, we’ll be much better.”
The Bulls’ front office has shown their belief in the core through their actions. During the prior offseason, they signed Zach LaVine to a max contract worth $215 million over five seasons. He’s going into his second season on that deal. This offseason, they extended Nikola Vucevic to a three-year contract. DeRozan has one more season on his contract, but he expressed his interest in staying with the Bulls for the rest of his career.
They upgraded the margins, too, signing Jevon Carter — who will compete to become the team’s starting point guard — and Torrey Craig. Both are excellent 3-point shooters with elite defensive attributes. The Bulls were arguably one of the worst 3-point-shooting teams last season, garnering the lowest percentage of points from shots behind the arc (27.5%).
It’s a pivotal season for the Bulls. It could be their last chance at salvaging the core they’ve kept together despite the loud outside chants to disband it. But that hasn’t wavered DeRozan’s belief in the team.
“I think we can accomplish it all,” DeRozan said. “From a lot of mistakes we had and ups and downs last season, it’s about understanding that and knowing how to correct that. That will make us even better than we were last season. We were pretty good, but we were too inconsistent. I think addressing a lot of the flaws that we had last season come next week in training camp will be the start of that. How much we correct that will determine how good we can be. I definitely think we can be extremely good.”
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