Bulls Nightly

Josh Giddey runs the offense. Last season he averaged 17.0 points, 8.3 rebounds and 9.1 assists in 32.1 minutes over 54 games, and shot 36.4% from three. Norman Powell was the top scorer at 21.7 points per game last season, shooting 38.0% from deep in 58 games. He was also one of the few regulars with a positive plus-minus, at 0.7. Powell is 33, and so is Buddy Hield, who averaged 7.6 points in 16.1 minutes last season. Tre Jones is back after averaging 14.1 points and 5.4 assists last season. Jordan Hawkins, 24, is out with an illness and has an estimated return of Oct. 24. Rookie guard Jaylin Sellers, 23, rounds out the group.

Nic Claxton is out with a hamstring injury. His estimated return is Nov. 4, and an Oct. 19 report said he was expected to miss two more weeks. Last season he averaged 11.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 3.7 assists in 69 games. Without him, the big-man minutes go to Jalen Smith and Zach Collins. Smith averaged 10.2 points and 6.7 rebounds last season, shot 37.3% from three and finished with a +1.6 plus-minus. Collins played only 10 games last season but made 42.9% of his threes in that small sample. Rookie forward Dailyn Swain is also out with an illness, with an estimated return of Oct. 24. Patrick Williams is the other veteran forward. He averaged 7.0 points in 72 games last season.

Matas Buzelis played 77 games last season and averaged 16.3 points and 5.8 rebounds in 29.2 minutes. On Oct. 20 the Bulls were reported to have exercised their 2027/28 options on Buzelis and Noa Essengue, a 19-year-old forward. Two more rookie forwards are on the roster: Caleb Wilson, 20, and Tobe Awaka, 22. Leonard Miller, 22, is also back. Reporting from Joe Cowley this month has focused on Miller, Wilson, Essengue and the second unit. Four players from last season are gone. Anfernee Simons is now with the 76ers. Collin Sexton is with the Lakers, Nick Richards is with the Heat, and Rob Dillingham is unsigned. The Bulls also cut four camp invitees on Oct. 17.

The Bulls went 31-51 last season. They played fast, with a pace of 103.2, and scored 116.3 points per game. Their shooting held up, with a 54.7 effective field goal percentage and 58.0 true shooting. The defense was the problem. Chicago posted a 112.1 offensive rating and a 117.4 defensive rating, for a net rating of -5.3. The lineup numbers tell a similar story. The most-used five-man unit last season included Isaac Okoro, Josh Giddey and Matas Buzelis. It played 103.0 minutes over 15 games and finished at -0.9. Okoro is still on the roster. He averaged 9.3 points in 26.9 minutes last season, with a -5.3 plus-minus.

Chicago plays at Milwaukee on Oct. 23, then hosts Washington on Oct. 24 to finish a back-to-back. The Bulls play at Boston on Oct. 26 and host New York on Oct. 28. On Oct. 30 they go back to Boston for an Emirates NBA Cup game. They won 125-104 in Milwaukee on Oct. 14, so the Bucks game is a familiar trip. Swain and Hawkins both have an estimated return of Oct. 24, which lines up with the Washington game. Claxton's Nov. 4 target means he is expected to miss this whole stretch. The Bulls have 80 regular season games on the schedule, and 5 of them are on national TV.