11 October 2023
Midway through the first quarter of Sunday’s preseason game against the Milwaukee Bucks, guard Zach LaVine glanced up at the scoreboard, then turned to teammate Coby White.
“It’s the first quarter,” LaVine said to his teammate. “And we’re shooting more 3s than we did in the first half of the game (last year).”
The Bulls took 35 shots from 3-point range Sunday — including 16 attempts by the starting unit — to make a sizable leap from last year’s average of 28.9 attempts.
It’s hard to draw strong conclusions from a preseason outing, in which players like LaVine had fewer than 18 minutes. But it provided a rough draft for the Bulls as they attempt to jump-start their offense this season by breaking away from the timidity that has defined them behind the arc.
White hopes the Bulls will push their 3-point attempts average closer to 40 this season to keep pace with Eastern Conference foes like the Bucks and Boston Celtics.
“I was one of the guys that was hesitating sometimes last year,” White said. “We’re pushing everybody to shoot 3s. We’re pushing all the guys — if you’re open, shoot it. There were a couple of times we passed up shots (Sunday) and coach got to the timeout and he told us, ‘Guys, if you’re open, shoot it.’
For the Bulls, every aspect of the offense starts and ends with LaVine — especially 3-point shooting.
LaVine has averaged 7.6 attempts from behind the arc per game over the past four seasons, the highest rate on the Bulls roster. But he’s already set goals to raise that number this season.
“In games that we won, I shot more than seven, I shot more than my averages in 3s,” LaVine said. “Numbers don’t lie.”
While the team’s 3-point shooting expectations are anchored by the All-Star, this shift in the offensive scheme can’t rely solely on the “Big Three” of LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vučević.
On their own, the trio matched expectations for their production last season— DeRozan and LaVine averaged over 24 points apiece and the trio posted 66.9 points per game. But the rest of the roster combined for only 46.2 points per game, which left the Bulls lagging offensively against the rest of the NBA.
“If it’s going to be DeMar and Zach and Vooch — as well as they shot the ball, it’s still the 24th-best offense in the league,” coach Billy Donovan said.
For the Bulls’ central trio, adding to the offense isn’t focused solely on individual scoring.
For instance, DeRozan is not going to start taking more 3-pointers. He doesn’t want to change his game. The Bulls don’t want him to change his game. Regardless, analytics don’t support the concept that DeRozan jacking up more 3s is the missing piece of the puzzle for the Bulls offense.
In fact, the Bulls already learned that lesson the hard way through their early experiments with Vučević’s usage. An overreliance on the center’s 3-point shooting during the 2021-22 season ultimately stretched the center out of his most valuable role as the fulcrum of the offense, leaving Vučević isolated from the rest of the offense and frustrated on dry shooting nights.
For both players, ball movement and playmaking will be key factors in building more chances for the Bulls to score this season.
“My thing for them is, what are they doing off the ball?” Donovan said. “What kind of space are they creating for other people? How many closeouts can we create for them where the game is just not so hard for them sometimes?”
LaVine acknowledged the offense will still feed heavily into himself and DeRozan, with plenty of chances for both to attack isolation opportunities.
But outside of those moments, the Bulls’ offense this season aims to focus on more fast-paced decision-making — starting with simple ball progression up the floor.
“Where we get stuck and get slow is when we are not organized enough coming down the floor in terms of guys being in spots, and guys understanding, ‘OK, here’s the next thing we go do,’ Donovan said.
Increasing attempts from behind the arc is about more than just taking shots — it’s about creating viable opportunities, which often starts in the paint. The Bulls see the paint as the key to opening up the 3-point arc this season, emphasizing the need for downhill movement before spraying out.
If this sounds familiar, that’s because it’s been a perennial focus for the Bulls offense. Last preseason, Donovan and his players identified ball movement, paint touches and 3-point attempts as keys to scoring. Yet the offense that made it onto the court continued to rely on pick-and-roll and isolation plays that leaned too heavily on DeRozan and LaVine’s scoring without getting the rest of the roster involved.
This offensive stagnancy is an issue the Bulls hope to address by having a permanent starting point guard this year — potentially White, who started as point guard Sunday and continues to win confidence from teammates and coaches throughout the preseason.
With a facilitator at the helm, the Bulls hope to break out of the bottom half of scoring in the league this year.
“We’ve got to play with better spacing,” Donovan said. “A lot of our shot profile led to not getting fouled enough and also not being able to rebound well enough. That’s been the focus in training camp to do that, to attack the paint. Now we’ll see if we can do it. We’ve got to get there.”
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