The Bulls' Problem in One Number: A 121.6 Defensive Rating Through Six Games, and Philadelphia Is Next
Chicago is 1-5 with four straight losses — not because it cannot score, but because five of its six opponents have put up 124 points or more.
Six games into the season, the Chicago Bulls' problem fits in a single number: 121.6. That is Chicago's defensive rating across its first six games, against an offensive rating of 105.9 — a net of minus 15.7, according to the Bulls Nightly data file published Sunday. Five of the Bulls' six opponents have scored 124 points or more. Scoring, the file concludes, is not what is sinking this team.
The record matches the math. Chicago is 1-5, has lost four straight and sits 13th in the Eastern Conference — though the East is compressed enough that the Bulls trail sixth-place Washington by only two games and tenth-place Miami by one. Two scorers have not been enough to outrun the defense: Caleb Wilson is averaging 21.2 points and Norman Powell 20.7, and both scored in the 14-point loss at Boston while the team still lost by 14.
The help is not all available, either. Dailyn Swain is day-to-day with an estimated return of November 2, and Nic Claxton is out until November 4 at the earliest, the file reported — part of a count of 470 player minutes the Bulls have lost to injury since October 20. And the next test is the hardest kind for a leaky defense: Philadelphia is 6-1 with three straight wins, and Tyrese Maxey is averaging 29.6 points over seven games. Joel Embiid and LeBron James are both listed day-to-day, so Chicago cannot count on facing either — but it needs a plan for Maxey either way.
The week ahead is unforgiving and clarifying at once: at Philadelphia on Monday, at the Knicks on November 4, then the 76ers again at home on November 8. Nobody writes off a season at 1-5 in this conference — but, as the file puts it, fixing the defense decides whether that stays true.
