The NBA season has just recently gotten underway, with games tipping off this past Tuesday. The Chicago Bulls, a team with a lot of excitement and anticipation, started their season on Wednesday against the Pistons. Bulls fans have many reasons to have faith in this newly assembled team. After an offseason filled with roster changes, there are going to be plenty of new faces playing in Chicago, many of which will see plenty of playing time or even be starters for the Bulls in the 2021-2022 season. A couple major additions that the Bulls made in the offseason included DeMar DeRozan from Toronto, Lonzo Ball from New Orleans, Derrick Jones from Portland, Alex Caruso from the Lakers, and Ayo Dosumnu from the University of Illinois. All of these additions showed Bulls fans that the management thinks that Chicago can win right now. In the past couple of years, the Bulls have had their struggles, finishing the last five seasons with a winning percentage under .500. When the Bulls decided to trade Jimmy Butler in 2017, Chicago knew that they were heading into a rebuilding stage. The Bulls future pretty much depended on the progression of Zach Lavine. While Lavine was a solid scorer during each of his first three seasons with the Bulls, he took his game to another level last season. He averaged a career best 27.4 points per game last season. The Bulls will look to Lavine to lead the team to their first postseason appearance since 2017. 

Another key player that the Bulls will rely on in the 2021-2022 season is veteran center, Nikola Vucevic, that the Bulls acquired last season. Vucevic played 26 games for Chicago last season and immediately made an impact, averaging 21.5 points per game. The Bulls are looking for the Zach Lavine and Nikola Vucevic pick and roll combination to continue to be one of the best in the NBA this year. Zach Lavine has always been a threat to score but he has never had a dominant big man that compliments his game the way that Vucevic does. On top of the dual threat that Lavine and Vucevic already bring to the starting lineup, the Bulls also added an all-star veteran in DeMar DeRozan. DeRozan has scored at least 20 points per game in each of his last eight seasons. The Bulls are hoping that DeRozan’s veteran presence will help the team in their playoff push, and they hope he can be a mentor to another new addition Chicago made this offseason in Lonzo Ball. Ball has been in the NBA for a few years now but is still just 23 years old and Chicago loves the idea of having DeRozan mentor Ball. Lonzo could be the future of the Bulls franchise, as he provides value as a playmaker, defender, and a rebounder. DeRozan will also be a great mentor for the Bulls first round draft pick this year, Ayo Dosumnu. 

The Chicago Bulls have one of the more talented starting lineups in the NBA after their big-time offseason additions. If Chicago’s bench players fill their roles well, the team will also have a lot of depth at every position. With a couple veterans to lead some extremely talented younger players, the Bulls could have just built a team that will be able to legitimately compete for the top spot in the Eastern Conference for many years. If this new look Chicago Bulls team meshes well together this season, they have the talent and the depth to be able to win a lot of games and compete with the top teams in the Eastern Conference.