Chicago Bulls close the regular season with a win over the Detroit Pistons, but a sub-.500 record reflects a step back

When the final buzzer of the NBA regular season sounded Sunday at the United Center, it marked a clear step back for the Chicago Bulls, who finished with a 40-42 record after a 103-81 win over the Detroit Pistons.

Coach Billy Donovan warned in training camp that this season would be more challenging for the Bulls after establishing themselves as a more cohesive threat in 2021-22, when they earned their first playoff berth in five seasons.

But that challenge proved even stronger than the Bulls expected. They went from finishing 10 games above .500 last season to a losing record and the last spot in the play-in tournament that determines the final two playoff seeds.

[ [Don’t miss] Chicago Bulls center Nikola Vučević has another goal in mind before the play-in: his 1st 82-game NBA season ]

“You’d like to be in a situation right now where you’re in the playoffs, but we’ve got to work and find a way to get into that point,” Donovan said. “This group has stayed together. They’ve tried to work through things and tried to get better every single day. The effort, the attention of trying to improve as a team was there. But the consistency was certainly a challenge.”

The Bulls avoided their main weakness from the 2021-22 season — constant roster turnover due to injuries and illness.

There were no COVID-19 outbreaks to sideline swaths of players. Patrick Williams played a full 82-game season after logging only 17 games last season. Zach LaVine returned to full availability after a brief absence due to his knee surgery in the opening weeks. Alex Caruso managed to ward off injuries and keep himself available for 80% of the season.

But that wasn’t enough to fix the team’s inconsistency, which remained ever-present despite the players’ improved availability.

This season didn’t bring many new problems for the Bulls. They still didn’t generate enough 3-pointers (last in the league with 10.4 made 3s per game) and struggled without a true starting point guard. While their defense improved, their offense stayed stagnant despite the singular talents of LaVine and DeMar DeRozan.

“We had so many highs and so many lows,” DeRozan said. “We had moments throughout the season where we tested each other and we came together. I feel like we all became closer, we all became more locked in and now we’re just trying to figure things out.”

Despite not holding any stakes for the postseason, Sunday’s game offered the Bulls one last chance to find some rhythm before departing for Toronto for Wednesday’s first play-in game against the Raptors.

[ [Don’t miss] Chicago Bulls focused on finding an early spark in their must-win play-in game: ‘We’ve got to come out and be the aggressor’ ]

The play-in tournament offers hope for the Bulls to chip their way into the playoffs, but the single-elimination format will be a new challenge for most players on the roster.

After experiencing a play-in game in 2021 with the San Antonio Spurs, DeRozan feels the main difference for his teammates will be mentality as they prepare for the trip to Toronto.

“When you’ve got to pack a bag, you’ve got to pack with the understanding that if you win, we’ve got to go somewhere else and compete for another game,” DeRozan said. “That’s where it starts.

“It was a first, feeling that feeling like you’ve got to pack for a couple days. It’s kind of that unknowing. You want to make sure you make that luggage useful instead of just going back home. I think everybody’s going to feel it packing that bag, understanding that we’re not just going to play one game.”