Chicago Bulls: What didn’t work this season

The right adjective to use in order to describe the 2024-2025 NBA season of the Chicago Bulls is one and only one: disappointing. The team finished tenth in the Eastern Conference and was eliminated during the play-in tournament by the Miami Heat, who defeated them 109-90 on the 17th of April, effectively shutting Chicago out of the NBA Playoffs. Probably, the Bulls would have been eliminated early on from the contention even in the case of a play-in win but, of course, we will never know. Once a team gets in the Playoffs, miracles may happen.

This is how sport goes. With the Chicago Bulls now officially out of the title race, fans can only enjoy the spectacle of the other games as mere spectators. However, to experience each match-up with greater interest and excitement, basketball enthusiasts supporting the Bulls can bet on the teams that will pass the round and go on to play in the Finals. In this regard, for each match, it is possible to  consult the best NBA parlays at the page just linked, where it is easy to find odds, tips and useful suggestions.

Statistics and news help the fan to place the best bet he or she can and keep him or her updated on everything that happens in the most important time of the year for every NBA aficionado: the Playoffs. Here, the best of the best compete for bragging rights and their chance to lift the O’Brien trophy.

A multitude of issues for Chicago Bulls

There are several reasons for this forgettable Bulls’ season. In a league like the NBA the star power means a lot and you can let a champion walk away without adequately replacing him. Chicago, as it seems, never got this memo.

Once Zach LaVine moved to Sacramento, the team didn’t find a valid name to take his place on the court. Lonzo Ball and Nikola Vucevic are great players, obviously, but they must rotate to fight fatigue and the subs in Chicago are not good enough in defence. It was plain to see that the Bulls were too soft whenever their opponents played against their second-strings. Even if LaVine wasn’t a proper elite player, he was a great shooting guard, capable of playing in both phases: offence and defence.

He has some defending limits but won’t be denied whenever he can score: all in all, he’s pretty darn good, as the Sacramento Kings now know. He left a hole in Chicago that still needs to be closed.

Another issue has been the injuries. Throughout the season, the Bulls suffered a lot of them. Many of their most valuable players have been unavailable for several games and sometimes this problem translated into losses and bad performances. Obviously, a league like the NBA is hard and competitive. Each team plays more than 80 games, without Playoffs, and these athletes may become pretty fatigued. The rotation is of paramount importance and if a team has sub-par reserves it will probably lose on the court. Whoever can manage health and injuries well won’t suffer too much in its performance.

The firing of Peter Patton 

After the loss against Miami, Arturas Karnisovas, the executive vice president of basketball operations for Chicago, fired Peter Patton, director of player development and shooting coach. He was probably the scapegoat in an environment disappointed by the third consecutive elimination during the play-in tournament. Patton has been around since 2023 and a lot of players cared and respected him. They manifested their opinion to the front office, saying Patton was the real deal and helped them become better at what they do for a living. It would seem, though, that his attitude to always speak his mind wasn’t liked by Karnisovas, who always asks for others’ opinion but can’t suffer people who actively disagree with him.

We don’t know if there were other reasons behind this firing but it seems like a rushed move, probably a clear symptom of a somewhat dysfunctional way of operating.