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As the 2021-22 NBA season heads to the upcoming All-Star break, the Chicago Bulls have a hold of second place in the Eastern Conference standings. They have been in and around the top spot in the conference for much of the season.
The question is can the Bulls maintain what they are doing and earn the No. 1 seed in the East? The answer is simple – absolutely. Here’s why.
It’s Been Done Before
The Bulls went 31-41 last year and finished 11th in the East just missing out on the play-in tournament. Could they really go from 11th to 1st? Yes, and it’s been done before.
Don’t forget, the Phoenix Suns, which played for an NBA title last season, finished 10th in the West the year before. Remember, the Suns acquired veteran guard Chris Paul that helped move them into the NBA’s elite.
It’s been done before last year too. The Lakers added LeBron James and then Anthony Davis is successive years before winning an NBA championship in 2020. The team the Lakers beat – the Miami Heat – added Jimmy Butler and wound up in the NBA Finals.
Chicago went out and added DeMar DeRozan in the offseason to play alongside super scorer Zach LaVine and the results have been outstanding.
Bulls Big Two
DeRozan leads the Bulls in scoring averaging 26.0 points a game this season. LaVine adds 24.9 per game for the fifth-highest scoring team in the East.
The pair gives Chicago legitimate star power and the ability to compete with the likes of Brooklyn, Milwaukee, Miami, and Philadelphia for conference supremacy.
Chicago also added some key pieces in the offseason to support DeRozan and LaVine. The Bulls added guards Lonzo Ball (13.0 ppg, 5.1 apg) and Alex Caruso (8.4 ppg, 3.9 apg) to provide depth in the backcourt and they drafted former Illinois guard Ayo Dosunmu to add to the mix.
Of all NBA players with at least 100 isolation possessions, the most efficient is DeRozan. LaVine ranks fourth. These two can carry the Bulls to the top spot. That’s enough for bettors to give serious consideration to the Bulls at +1100 to win the conference.
NBA Central Division Update
The biggest threat to the Bulls winning the Central Division is the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks. The Bucks just defeated the Bulls (94-90), but they’ll play three more H2H games before the regular season ends.
The Bucks are favored at -125 to win the division. The Bulls are given +140 odds to win. So far, Chicago is 6-3 versus division opponents. The three remaining games with Milwaukee could go a long way in determining which team wins it.
This Just In
If anything can derail the Bulls plans, it is injuries. Injuries have derailed some of the best laid plans of NBA teams and Chicago will have to navigate through a big one. It was just announced that Ball will have surgery to repair a torn meniscus in his left knee. He will miss six to eight weeks, which means Chicago will be without him for most of the rest of the regular season. That means Coby White, who averages 12.7 points per game, is going to have to step in and pick up the slack left by Ball’s absence.
Updated Chicago Bulls Futures Odds
NBA Championship +2200
Eastern Conference +1100
Central Division +140
Learn about the NBA Four Factors betting model.
