The Inconsistency Of The 2015-16 Chicago Bulls

Let’s flash back to the 2015 NBA Playoffs. It’s the second round—after eliminating the Milwaukee Bucks—the Chicago Bulls come up against a tough Cleveland Cavaliers line up led by superstar LeBron James. After stealing game one in Cleveland, it’s looking like this year might be the year for Chicago to finally surpass “King James.” But, Cleveland evened up the series 1-1 as both teams were on the way to Chicago for Game 3. Game 3 goes down to the wire with Derrick Rose nailing a game-winning three at the buzzer in front of his home town. The confidence of the Bulls players and fans is now high. Leading Cleveland 2-1 in a best of seven series, the Bulls are now in control, and the next round is in sight. After lots of hope to make it to the Eastern Conference Finals, it goes down hill. Game 4 goes to Cleveland after some controversial calls and a LeBron James game-winner. Cleveland went on to win the series 4-2 as the Bulls were defeated closely in Game 5 and then blown out in what would be their last game of the season in Game 6.

Fans think they need one more piece to make it to the Finals; the front office is confident their squad—that just fell to Cleveland 4-2—will make extreme noise in 2015-2016 with almost no offseason moves. The first game of the season comes around and the Chicago Bulls start off the season with a big win against none other than the Cleveland Cavaliers. It looks like the Chicago Bulls are on pace for a big year; they have team chemistry, and are off on the right foot. You’d assume this team would easily make it to the playoffs. Well, you thought wrong. Who would have guessed the team that challenged Cleveland one postseason ago would go on with almost the same roster to miss the playoffs the next season. The inconsistent play of the entire Bulls team was embarrassing.

Let’s take a look at how inconsistent they truly were: Chicago Gongfu Tea Cup
the regular season series vs Cleveland 3-1; beat the Oklahoma City Thunder twice; defeated the Spurs in their first matchup of the season; the Raptors couldn’t beat them once. Those are some impressive wins against some of the top teams in the league. Now, let’s take a look at pathetic losses that they should have capitalized on against not-so-playoff teams: The Brooklyn Nets, New York Knicks (three times), Utah Jazz, Denver Nuggets and Orlando Magic.

If you’re a team that sweeps the season series against the Oklahoma City Thunder and Toronto Raptors who are two championship contenders, you shouldn’t be happy with losing to sub .500 teams. When a team as talented as the Chicago Bulls with star players such as Jimmy Butler, Derrick Rose, and Pau Gasol lose those games, you’d think changes would be made, but they weren’t.

This injury infected Chicago team continued to lose games against mediocre teams and won games against contenders. They ultimately finished the 2015-16 season with a 42-40 record and stood 9th in the Eastern Conference. With a few offseason moves, Chicago fans can only hope they return to that dangerous team in the 2015 playoffs.