Bulls worried about defense after trading Alex Caruso: 'We're going to have some challenges -- no question'

CHICAGO — Before the first whistle blew at training camp, the Chicago Bulls already had a serious concern: defense.

The Bulls made a calculated decision that downgraded their defense by trading Alex Caruso to the Oklahoma City Thunder in exchange for Josh Giddey in June. But the cracks go deeper — and coach Billy Donovan made it clear this season’s roster will struggle to overcome its deficiencies.

“We’re going to have some defensive challenges — there’s no question,” Donovan said during media day Monday.

From the moment of the trade, it was clear the Bulls would miss Caruso — painfully — this season.

He covered every inch of the court for them last season, leading the NBA in deflections (3.7 per game) and the team in blocked shots (1.0) while averaging the third-most steals (1.7) in the league. He was the only player to tally 100 steals and 70 blocks, an indication of his versatility as a 6-foot-5 guard who can switch onto a power forward or undersized center.

And despite being the defensive anchor of an underperforming team, Caruso was widely praised for his performances, earning consecutive All-Defensive selections (first team in 2023, second team last season) and the 2023-24 Hustle Award.

But losing their defensive cornerstone is only a piece of a larger collapse for the Bulls that began last season.

Over the last three seasons they lumbered through a brief ascent and descent in the NBA’s defensive power rankings. After a bottom-third performance in 2021-22, the Bulls rocketed to become a top-five defensive team in 2022-23. They crashed back down to reality last season, finishing 22nd in defensive rating.

Even amid the decline in team defense, Caruso stood out. Opponents dropped by an average of 6.3 points in offensive rating with Caruso on the court last season. The Bulls averaged more steals, blocks and defensive rebounds when he was anchoring the defense. And they were eager to lean heavily on Caruso to clean up their messes.

“There were situations, quite honestly, with Alex that you could throw him on a guy and you didn’t need to bring any help,” Donovan said. “He could handle it. We may not be in that situation, but that doesn’t mean we still can’t work to be good collectively as a team.”

The Bulls weren’t looking to replace Caruso’s defense when they traded for Giddey. And it’s clear that Giddey won’t be a stopgap for this season’s defense.

The Thunder were a better defensive team without Giddey on the court by a margin of 2.4 points last season. His on-off statistics depreciated from his rookie season, mostly reflecting the Thunder’s incremental evolution into a defensive powerhouse.

As he approaches his first season with the Bulls, Giddey isn’t shy about his need for defensive growth.

“Obviously I’m never going to be an Alex Caruso-type defender,” he said. “But I think it’s the effort that you put in on that side of the ball. It’s honestly never been my game as an elite, lockdown defender, but I think everybody can be a positive on that side of the ball.”

Giddey said every offensive-minded player reaches a point in his career where he must decide between being a liability or an asset on the other side of the ball. For him that moment came last season, when he sat down with Thunder coach Mark Daigneault to map out a plan to improve his ability to rotate off the ball and stay in front of his man in one-on-one coverage.

Improving his defense was a focus for Giddey throughout the Olympic tournament with Australia this summer, during which he suffered a ruptured ankle ligament that could limit his availability in training camp.

“I don’t think I was a weak link,” Giddey said. “But if you look at the defenders we had, teams — if they had to go with somebody, it was probably going to be me on that team. That’s a guy I don’t want to be.”

The Bulls’ defensive concerns extend far beyond Giddey — or any one player.

This is not a roster well-suited to defense. Because of a cluttered backcourt, the Bulls likely will field three-guard lineups with regularity, often putting them at a distinct size disadvantage — although the length of guards such as Giddey and Ayo Dosunmu will help to mitigate this factor.

It’s impossible to quantify how much Caruso single-handedly bolstered the defense. He clearly wasn’t the only reason the Bulls were so smothering two seasons ago. They got sloppier and less effective last season even with Caruso diving and sliding and leaping across the court. And those factors remain, without Caruso to camouflage mistakes.

Donovan said this will require a heftier defensive game plan that hammers off-ball rotation and emphasizes help defense. New assistant coach Wes Unseld Jr. will be a key to designing a stronger defense.

But Donovan’s description of the team’s defensive mentality also contained a more earnest mantra: Try hard and hope for the best.

“When you talk about the winning component — yeah, we can play as fast as we want, but if you don’t really defend well enough as a team, you can’t be good,” Donovan said. “I don’t know what the season is going to look like after 82 games or where we’ll end up or how we’ll be, but I think there’s an integrity to competing. There is integrity to going out there every single day and doing your very, very best, you know?”

Not much to inspire confidence — and it’s only Day 1.

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