From now until the start of the NBA season later this month, we are going to be running our season previews. Each day, we are going to look at two teams and talk about one thing they did well last year and one thing that they did poorly last year. Then, we are going to talk about the chances of maintaining what they did well/changing what they did poorly. In this edition we will look at the Chicago Bulls.

One Thing They Did Well

Defend The Post

Last season, the Chicago Bulls were one of the best teams in the NBA when it came to defending the post.  This was interesting because of who their big men are.  Sure Joakim Noah is a strong post defender, but he tends to be undersized.  They you have Taj Gibson and Brad Miller.  So what the Bulls like to do is send double teams, and their timing of these doubles is why they succeeded.

The Bulls never came right on the catch, where a big man could kick the ball out.  They always seemed to time their double when the big man seemed committed to making a move to the hoop, or where a kick out pass was impossible:

Read more…