Power rankings system devised and compiled weekly by Stemshul. “Expert” analysis by paradroid.

Ok, so I was wrong about resuming regular service this week, but it was another holiday weekend, so cut me some slack. The top two remain the same, this time with the Warriors bumping up to #1. Utah is separating from the chase pack, getting a little closer to the leaders and a little further ahead of the Nets and Bulls. Speaking of Chicago, they’ve managed to get into the top 5. Nobody had the Bulls as serious contenders coming into this year. Let’s take a look at their off-season moves and see if they can keep this up.

Chicago brought in big man Nikola Vucevic via trade with Atlanta last March to pair with Zach LaVine. It had mixed results early, and the Bulls finished 31-41, missing the playoffs. The team got frisky in summer, signing Alex Caruso to help out the bench and trading for former #2 overall pick Lonzo Ball. Caruso, best known for being a prematurely balding white dude with explosive dunking ability, brings good shooting and great defense. Lonzo, although unlikely to live up to the hype and to his draft position, is also a great defender and can either run the point or be a spot up three point threat. But the big move was bringing in DeMar DeRozan through a trade with San Antonio. This was greeted mostly with puzzled confusion, as it was seen as a very poor fit. Chicago already had a ball dominant wing in LaVine, a play-making center in Vucevic, and another play-maker in Ball. Why would they want another player who needs the ball in his hands to be successful? Who gets the basketball?

However, coach Billy Donovan and the players have made it work, with Ball leaning on his improved spot-up skills (a career high 41.9% from deep on 7.4 attempts per game) and all around game (5.0 APG, 5.4 RPG, 1.0 BPG, 1.8 SPG) and Vucevic taking a slightly diminished role (down to 15.4 shots per game from the 20.4 he took during his last season with the Magic, where he was the undisputed #1 option). Somehow, the LaVine-DeRozan pairing has worked out great as co-lead scoring options. Take a look at how similar their stat lines are: LaVine is averaging 26.3 PPG, 5.1 RPG, and 4.4 APG on 49.9%/41.9%/85.0% shooting splits and DeRozan is averaging 26.8 PPG, 5.1 RPG, and 4.6 APG on 49.5%/37.3%/87.6% splits. DeMar specializes in the mid-range and Zach in the three, but they’ve found a way to not just coexist but flourish together. The roster is pretty deep with quality players and quite good on offense (111.0 PPG, 9th in the NBA) while managing to be solid on defense as well (107.3 PPG, 14th). I think the Ball and Caruso acquisitions were pretty canny, because the big three (Vucevic-LaVine-DeRozan) are (to be generous) mediocre defenders, so adding strong defensive players who can shoot was exactly what the team needed. Are they real contenders? I think they are. Milwaukee and Brooklyn are probably better, but New York and Boston have both regressed. Philly is still dealing with the Simmons saga, and early season surprise Cleveland just lost Ricky Rubio for the year with an ACL tear. Miami will be right there, especially when they get Jimmy Butler and Bam Adebayo back. But Chicago looks like they could end up with a top 4 seed and home-court in the first round. I don’t see them winning it all, but the team is looking as dangerous as they’ve been since Michael Jordan retired.

Detroit had just two games last week and lost them both. Covid has decimated Detroit, with Hamidou Diallo and Saddiq Bey the only two regulars playing right now. Luka Garza, brought up from the G league earlier in the season when Kelly Olynyk got hurt, has seen a greatly expanded role. But everybody else is non-NBA caliber players forced into action, so we can take these losses with a grain of salt. Don’t get me wrong, the Pistons are not a good team. But this roster has no business being on an NBA court. A win would be a minor miracle (spoiler alert: stay tuned for that miracle next week). Diallo and Bey stepped up very well when forced to be the main options. Bey has averaged 24.3 PPG, 7.4 RPG, and 3.1 APG as he became a bigger part of the offense in the last seven games. Diallo has produced 19.2 PPG, 7.0 RPG, and 2.8 APG while adding 3.0 SPG in his last five, coinciding with his promotion to the starting lineup. So the silver lining may be a chance for those two potential pieces develop and take the lead for the team while Grant, Cunningham et al. are out.

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