After their first game of the season, the Chicago Bulls faced a foreign question: Did they take too many 3-pointers?
The Bulls took 42 3s in Wednesday’s 124-104 loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. That’s higher than last season’s average attempts of all but two teams — the Boston Celtics and Golden State Warriors.
For a team that finished last in 3-point shooting volume for two consecutive seasons, that might feel like a welcome change. But the Bulls also couldn’t make those attempts, finishing 12-for-42 (29.3%) in the loss.
The stale shooting night forced the Bulls to consider whether they overcorrected.
“It’s an interesting question, because I’ve been dealing with for the last two years. ‘We don’t take enough 3s. We need to take 40 3s.’ Now it’s about makes,” coach Billy Donovan said with a laugh after the loss. “For us, we’ve got to play through the paint and generally those 3s will come through the paint. If they’re good shots and they’re open shots, we’ve got to take them. There’s going to be games we don’t shoot it well, but I think you still want to sustain that.”
Growing pains are understandable with a group of players attempting to redefine the way they fit together. The Bulls entered this season with the same personnel but also have goals to take more 3-pointers. Donovan never set a quota for shot attempts, but guards Coby White and Zach LaVine believe the Bulls will be more successful if they can average attempts in the mid-30s.
Making this change would require the Bulls to strike the right balance of shot selection. On Wednesday, the Bulls took 42% of their shots from behind the arc and 28% at the rim. Last season they averaged 30.4% of their shots from 3-point range and 34.4% at the rim. That’s a pretty steep swing.
The Bulls clearly need to get more shots up from behind the arc, but that can’t come at the sacrifice of paint touches or looks at the rim. Once a team starts settling for jacked-up 3-pointers, the offense becomes flat and easier to guard — especially on a cold night.
In the opener, LaVine felt that balance tipped in the wrong direction.
“Some of the looks we got, it wasn’t really in rhythm,” he said. “It might not have been the right shot at the right time. We’ve got to work on that because I think once you get down you start forcing things, trying to do whatever you can to get back into a game.”
The Bulls still have plenty of time to find that balance. But to become a better 3-point-shooting team is learning to flush away bad shooting nights. They certainly had one of those Wednesday, with uncharacteristic form from the majority of their most reliable shooters.
The offense went 4-for-16 from the corner, which is considered one of the most valuable shots on the court. LaVine went 2-for-9 from behind the arc. White went 2-for-7. Patrick Williams — who led the Bulls with a 41.5% 3-point accuracy last season — went 0-for-4. Only two players shot above 30% from behind the arc: DeMar DeRozan (1-for-3) and Torrey Craig (3-for-4).
Despite the poor accuracy, Donovan emphasized players can’t shy from shooting in the next game.
“I want guys confidently shooting the basketball,” Donovan said. “One of the things that was an issue for us last year is that we bypassed shots.”
So how should the Bulls approach their upcoming slate of games?
First: Don’t stop taking 3-pointers. It’s still a net improvement for a team that seemed almost scared to fire from deep last season. And it’s rare to see LaVine, White and Williams struggle on the same night. If that pattern persists, the Bulls would have a much bigger problem than shot selection.
That said, the way the Bulls generate 3s is just as important as taking the shots. In the second half, they strayed from their bread and butter of getting into the paint to force the defense to sag, then kicking out for high-percentage catch-and-shoot looks. Deep shots can be a crutch when it feels like nothing is working around the rim, but they also lead to a stagnant offense.
Most important, the Bulls can’t lose their head during skids. LaVine voiced frustration with the way the team came apart in the third quarter. The offense broke down in the second half when misses and mistakes melded into frustration, leading the Bulls to give up quick runs.
“Do we have enough resiliency when we’re not making shots to still keep staying with it?” Donovan said. “You can tell guys get down, get dejected. There’s got to be some resiliency and some fight to get through that.”
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