The REAL REASON behind the Bulls slow start...

Halftime in Boston. The Bulls had 19 rebounds. The Celtics had 30. It got worse. 54-40 by the final buzzer and 19 of Boston's rebounds came on the offensive glass. That's a 1-3 team and the coach already told you what the reason is. Quote, the biggest reason is we've got to rebound the ball better. So I dove into the first four games of this season and yeah, there is a problem with the rebounding for sure but it's not the whole reason to why we've started this season so poorly there's one number and has nothing to do with the glass but let's start with the glass because tiago splitter is right in four games the bulls have 185 rebounds their opponents have 197 that's 46.3 a night against 49.3 so three fewer every game let's go game by game they won the boards in toronto tied milwaukee lost washington 48 to 44 and then boston but quickly before we move on here if you want to stay up to date on the latest news around the chicago bulls and you want breakdowns just like this we'll be here every single day so down below hit that subscribe button it's completely free to do so here's what the totals hide on the offensive glass the bulls and their opponents are dead even 57 each the whole 12 rebound gap is the defensive glass 128 for the Bulls 140 for the other side. Look at the opener. They won the rebounding 57-51 in Toronto and still lost 135-92. That one was on the turnovers though. They had 27 of them. They trailed 43-23 after the first quarter. Toronto scored 34 fast break points to their 13. That's how a rebounding edge turns into a 43 point loss. Boston is the one where the glass broke them. Quote, when you give them second and third chances, it's impossible. Boston had 46 points in the paint, the Bulls had 30, and Boston scored 39 points off Chicago's turnovers to 17 the other way. Add it up and that's a 35-point loss, and here's the crash. Now let's take a look at who was on the floor in Boston. Giddey, Powell, and Bouletis played 70 minutes between them. They had three rebounds, one each. Giddey had seven boards in the opener, four in Milwaukee, eight against Washington, then one. And look who's actually getting them. Toby Alaka had 13 rebounds in 26 minutes. Zach Collins had 10 in 26. Giddey has 20 in 103. The Bulls' best rebounders by a minute barely play. It's a small sample size with four games, but Splitter keeps playing small ball and it's showing with them performing poorly on the glass. Meanwhile, rookie Caleb Wilson grabbed 14 against Washington along with 30 points and Jalen Smith had 13 in Milwaukee. That's about it for the heroes. Here's my take. Rebounding isn't a problem, it's a decision. Quote, the X's and O's of execution offensively and how we are going to play on that end, that takes time, but the effort and attention to detail, how we're going to guard, that's something that happens immediately. Norman Powell said the quiet part out loud. The time for effort isn't in 10 games time, it is in the next one. The Bulls have only won once this season and it was against Milwaukee, so let's take a look at and see what we can take from this and turn them into a winning team going forward. In Milwaukee, they scored 132 points, 62 of them in the paint, 29 assists, and just 14 turnovers. In that game, seven players scored in double figures, led by Norman Powell's 25, Caleb Wilson had 21, Leonard Miller had 19 off the bench. They even trailed 32-17 after the first quarter, then scored 44 in the second and never looked back. They tied the rebounding 44-44. Remember that number because it matters in a second. When the Bulls keep the ball and don't lose on the glass, they can beat a good team on the road. So that's why we should have a little bit of patience with this team. The very next night, the Wizards, at halftime, the Bulls led 62-57. Then came the third quarter. The Bulls shot 7 for 23. They turned it over 5 times, committed 8 fouls, and gave up 40 points. Quote, I thought we didn't take the best shots that third quarter. Quote, we were very inconsistent with our coverages. That's Splitter again. And quote, we've got to be smart. And then the Bulls fought back. they were down 21 in the fourth and got it to three with under 24 seconds left. Caleb Wilson said it best, quote, I feel like it shows that we have fight, but we put ourselves in that position. And Bouletis said this, quote, it was good, but it's too late. 30 points and 14 rebounds for Wilson. That's his first career double-double and it still wasn't enough. What makes it worse is that first half wasn't all bad. The Bulls forced 12 Boston turnovers in the first half and had seven steals and they still were down 12 at the break. Then Boston down 12 at halftime. By the end of the third quarter, it was 30. Boston outscored them 39 to 21 in the third. Peyton Pritchard had 19 of those on five threes. The Celtics went eight for 13 from deep in the third quarter alone. And the Bulls turned it over nine times in that quarter. Boston turned those into 17 points. The bench didn't help. No Bulls bench players scored in double figures and Trey Jones finished with no assists. Quote, a lot of games are lost in the third quarter. Quote, it's not one person, but just collectively, we've got to be better. That's the veteran Norman Powell talking, and he's right. The turnovers, the rebounds, the bad shots, nobody gets a pass. Now the part I promised. After Boston, Josh Giddey said this. Quote, I think we start games all right. It's just the third quarter. That's kind of killing us. He's half right. The third quarter is killing them outscored 155 to 109 over four games that's minus 46 but they don't start all right in the first quarter they've been outscored 136 to 88 that's minus 48 to his credit Giddey owned the rest of it quote i've got to be way better and we've got to figure it out together in the second and fourth quarters the bulls are actually plus 19 their whole 75 point deficit lives in two quarters the first and the third so we have two good quarters and two bad ones and it just happens to be that our bad quarters are when the other team's players are the most fresh and our bad habits just show up. Count the check engine lights. Rebounds, three fewer a game, 77 turnovers in four games, the eighth most points in the paint allowed in the league, 53 a night, and minus 46 in third quarters. Quote, we can be really good defensively. It's just the process of getting that understanding of what position we're in. There's a reason the first and third quarters look like this, and the Bulls are telling you, quote, we really don't know what we have to get into or what sets we have to be aggressive in. He called their shot selection, quote, freestyle. Their players watched film together on Sunday, players only. It shows the Bulls have taken 168 threes in four games, more than most teams and made 40 of them. That's 23.8%. Splitter put it plainly, quote, we've got to take care of the ball and shoot the ball better as well. It's a new coach with a new offensive system. It's growing pains. The shots will eventually go in, but with the rebounding, it's just a decision. You've got to make the right one. You've got to go up there on the glass and get the ball. So what would I do? A few things, and they're all free. First, play the guys who are getting the rebounds. Play a walk on Collins a few minutes in the third quarter and see what happens. Next, stop the freestyle. Go into the third quarter with a set everybody knows because in the third quarter, we're minus 46 right now. Last, box out. Just start getting in there and trying to get more rebounds. It's all about effort, and Norman Powell said it needs to start immediately. And it doesn't get any easier as the defending champion New York Knicks come into our town on Wednesday. Then comes a three-game road trip. Boston again, Philadelphia, then the Knicks again. And Friday, it's Boston again, the same team that beat them by 35 and out-rebounded them by four. Quote, we can be on the outside looking in really quickly. And the one player that can protect the rim and get the rebounds is not even back yet. Nick Claxton strained his hamstring in training camp, and he did an individual workout on Monday. He might practice with the team next week. There's no return date set yet. That's the piece that's still missing. Noah Sungay is 19. He came back from a head injury and played 16 minutes in Boston. 0 for 5, 5 fouls, minus 25, and 4 rebounds. My verdict is simple. The rebounding is real, but it's fixable. Just box out more. it's a decision and it's all about effort and you got to go out there and do it. In four games we have a 75 point hole and we play two of two good quarters out of four so it's not that bad right now we just need to fix our bad habits and when we do we'll start winning more basketball games but even with Claxton we are still losing two out of the four quarters and we're losing them really badly like if they're really if they're a lot closer we could win some of these but right now, Nick Claxton isn't going to help us. He isn't going to be our savior unless we really start tightening it up in these quarters. Wednesday is the first test. If we can have a good first and third quarter against them, we can win. So I want to hear from you guys down in the comments section. What are you thinking? What can this team do to fix their problems? Who's your favorite player on the team right now? Mine? Caleb Wilson. Let me know how you guys are feeling down below in the comments section. If you want to stay up to date on the latest news around the Bulls, we're your home for it here on YouTube. So down below, hit that subscribe button. And as always, I've been your host Casey. We'll catch you in the next one.