NBA Fantasy Preview 2021-22: Chicago Bulls

In a 30-part series leading up to the start of the 2021-22 National Basketball Association season, we will take a look at each NBA franchise from a fantasy perspective. The fifth team we will review is the Chicago Bulls.

The Chicago Bulls appear to be a team on the rise heading into the 2021-22 NBA regular season. Even though the team was 10 games below .500 and missed the playoffs a year ago, expectations are growing by the fact Bulls management are making transactions where they are trying to start and win now.

Chicago’s first big move was acquiring center Nikola Vucevivc from the Orlando Magic at the 2021 trade deadline. That was followed by acquiring Lonzo Ball from the New Orleans Pelicans, and then DeMar DeRozan from the San Antonio Spurs in offseason sign and trade deals. Vucevic, Ball and DeRozan join a starting five that includes Zach LaVine and Patrick Williams.

Vucevic was ranked third last season in fantasy basketball among centers, behind Nikola Jokic of the Denver Nuggets and Julius Randle of the New York Knicks. Last season Vucevic had 2712 fantasy basketball points.* He had a field goal percentage of .477, free throw percentage of .840, 1639 points, 817 rebounds, 269 assists, 65 steals, 48 blocked shots, and 126 turnovers.

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At small forward, LaVine and DeRozan are both ranked in the top ten. LaVine was fifth among small forwards and DeRozan was 10th. LaVine had 2205 fantasy points and DeRozan was 10th with 1953 points. LaVine’s 200 three-pointers at the small forward position were second behind Buddy Hield of the Sacramento Kings, who had 282 three-pointers. A reason why LaVine did not crack the top three is because he had 203 turnovers in the NBA a year ago.

DeRozan is a fantasy favourite of mine dating back to his time with the Toronto Raptors. The bottom line is that DeRozan is very active with the basketball when his team has possession, and is not afraid to shoot at any time. Twice in his NBA career, he led the league in two-point field goal attempts. DeRozan had 1238 two-point attempts in 2015-16, and 1421 two-point attempts in 2016-17. The great Wayne Gretzky, the greatest hockey player who ever lived, once said, “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take.” DeRozan has only once reached the .500 mark once in his career in his field goal shooting, but you will get a fair share of DeRozan attempts.

Ball meanwhile is ranked 22nd among point guards in fantasy. If there is one area in Ball’s game he could improve is his shooting. He only scored 802 points in 2020-21.

*Please note: To calculate NBA fantasy points for point guards, shooting guards and small forwards, I use the formula (3PTM+Points+Rebounds+Assists+Steals-Turnovers). For power forwards and centers, I use the formula (Points+Rebounds+Assists+Steals+Blocks-Turnovers).

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