Bulls vs. Pelicans Breakdown: Examining the Xs and Oh Nos from Opening Night

The preseason honeymoon with this new-look squad is officially over, and the pace along with the increase in three-point attempts won’t be enough to make this team competitive in the Eastern Conference. New Orleans was without Zion Williamson and the newly extended Trey Murphy III, who is highly touted on the defensive end of the floor.

Even without Murphy, the Bulls struggled against a team that finished top-six in defensive rating and averaged 8.3 steals per game last season. Let's take a deep dive into what went wrong.

Billy Donovan's Rotation 

Lonzo Ball being the first substitute off the bench was the first shocker, in my opinion. Yes, he played great in the preseason , but I believe Ayo Dosunmu has earned the right to be the Bulls' sixth man.

What really was hard to wrap my head around was that Ball only got three minutes with the starters before Dosunmu, Julian Phillips, and Jalen Smith all checked into the game. At that point, Billy Donovan was running a lineup of Ball, Dosunmu, Zach LaVine, Phillips, and Smith. It's not a knock on that group, but going from four starters and Ball for only three minutes straight to only one starter to end the quarter isn't winning basketball.

Matas Buzelis got little to no time in the season opener. As the game progressed and the Bulls' defense fell off, I think he could've provided significant help on the back side and protecting the basket.

Granted it's game one of 82, but a big part of the preseason is figuring out rotations, and it looked like the coaching staff was still trying to sort its ideal personnel as the real deal began.

New-Look Chicago Bulls Offense 

One of my biggest pet peeves from the last few seasons was Nikola Vucevic serving as the Bulls' trail player in that “Draymond Green role.” The player in this role, one Green has perfected, is expected to be a playmaker for shooters and work in the dribble handoff/pick-and-roll game with their guards.

Vucevic has never averaged more than three assists per game in his career. When the big man runs Chicago's trail spot, it leads to a plethora of top-of-the-key threes. In Vucevic’s first season with the Bulls, he shot 40% on top-of-the-key threes but has since never shot over 34% from there and shot 30% in two of the last three seasons.

Against the Pelicans, Vucevic got 10 post touches and only took two three-pointers. Hopefully those figures stay fairly consistent all season long.

All in all, I can’t say too much else on the offensive side of the ball since the Bulls coughed up 21 turnovers and left a possible 63 points on the board.

In the preseason, yes, the Bulls took lots of threes. However, they opened up those opportunities by having cutters who would make a shorter pass to the shooter.

On opening night in New Orleans, the Bulls frequently drove to the basket and left all four guys standing around the arc. There were too many jump passes and telegraphed passes, things you're taught not to do as early as middle school basketball.

Undisciplined Defense

Every coach, at every level, always talks about how good defense leads to better offense. The same can be said about bad offense leading to even worse defense. When you turn the ball over with 50% of those turnovers being bad passes that went straight to opposing defenders, it's going to be difficult to get back on defense and get a stop.

In the half-court, the Bulls had no sense of team defense all night. Losing a guy like Alex Caruso is a detriment to a team that now lacks a leader on the defensive end. Simple things at the NBA level like protecting the pack line and being able to X out (help the helper) were nonexistent. Every Bulls defender got blown by which led to everyone scrambling, presenting advantageous situations for the offense.

The Bulls stayed true to their name on opening night as they made the ball look like a red flag in how they were attacking it and getting blown by. This may be a lack of coaching or effort, but whatever the case may be, it'll be a long season if things don't change quickly.

At the Buzzer 

All in all, Wednesday's showing was extremely rough for a Bulls team that turned heads throughout the preseason. It was hard not to overreact during the game. However, these flaws on both ends of the floor aren't due to a lack of skill, but rather a lack of effort and IQ. If the Bulls plan on being competitive this season, they need to take better care of the ball and play solid team defense.

As always… See Red!