Bulls hope defense remains a staple as offensive efficiency improves

So far, the Chicago Bulls have deployed the same defensive scheme that yielded the fifth-ranked unit last season.

“We have the same personnel. So we’re not going to change a lot,” Bulls guard Zach LaVine said.

Do they need to?

From the team’s projected starting lineup to its preferred style of play, there are reasons to question whether last season’s defensive performance is sustainable. The Bulls believe it is.

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“We’re going to do the same thing,” LaVine said. “You’re not going to change something that’s not broken.”

But here is what’s changed. Patrick Beverley now plays for the Philadelphia 76ers. It was Beverley and his backcourt pressure that helped propel the Bulls to the fifth-ranked defense while closing last season 14-9. Coby White started the Bulls’ preseason opener at Milwaukee, largely for his playmaking and perimeter shooting and not his defense.

With White joining a first unit that features LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, Patrick Williams and Nikola Vučević, the Bulls could be swinging big in an attempt to improve their 24th-ranked offense at the risk of their elite defense. The goal is to balance the two. For example, the Bulls would be satisfied finishing as a top-10 offense and defense. How successful Chicago can be at finally blending the two will be among the biggest factors in determining how far they go.

But it’s possible the first string isn’t settled. Bulls coach Billy Donovan, following Tuesday’s practice, left open the door for free-agent signing Jevon Carter to get a crack at the starting role in the second preseason game Thursday against the Denver Nuggets.

“We haven’t gotten that far yet,” Donovan said. “Whether or not we change the lineup, I don’t know yet. We’ll talk as a staff, get another day of practice (Wednesday) and we’ll have to make that decision. But I haven’t made any decision yet on that.”

Carter would give the Bulls a superior perimeter defender at lead guard with the first unit and a similar version of Beverley. But he wouldn’t supply as much dribble penetration as White, which the Bulls are desperately searching for this season, so they won’t be so perimeter-oriented offensively. Donovan said before Sunday’s preseason opener at Milwaukee that none of the team’s point guards separated himself in training camp. Although White got the first opportunity to orchestrate the first string, the opening-night starter might still be up in the air.

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Meanwhile, fellow free-agent acquisition Torrey Craig made his presence felt with defense, energy, hustle, rebounding and slashing in a reserve role against the Bucks. There’s no guarantee Craig won’t come for Williams’ starting 4-man role. At a minimum, he appears capable of replacing what Derrick Jones Jr. supplied as a versatile utility player in the frontcourt. How they’ll be used will be determined over time. But the Bulls believe Carter and Craig enhance their defense and add flexibility to lineup combinations, which also include defensive-minded projected reserves Alex Caruso, Ayo Dosunmu and Andre Drummond.

“If people aren’t known for defense, it doesn’t mean that we don’t compete,” LaVine said. “I think we have a group that competes hard defensively, regardless of what the narrative of certain players is on the court. Guys play hard. I think that’s the first step in competing. You’ve got to want it more than the other team.

“It doesn’t matter how talented you are or how skilled you are at certain aspects. If you compete and you have a mindset of going out there and competing as a group and being more physical than the other team, I think you’ll be OK.”

There’s one major technical aspect the Bulls must adhere to as well.

“Our ability to protect the paint is so critical,” Donovan said. “If you go back two years, that was one of the biggest dips we had when Alex and Lonzo (Ball) got hurt is we were not good at the point of the screen or at the point of attack of controlling the ball. And we’ve got to be a really good positionally defensive team to have built-in help to try to put the responsibility on five guys to protect the paint and be able to close out and contest shots.

“In any game, when the ball gets deep into the paint your defense is in a tough spot. And we’ve got to work to try to keep it out of there as best we can.”

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That challenge becomes more difficult because the Bulls want to play faster — with both pace and decision-making. Last season’s defense benefited from a slower pace, fewer turnovers and more chances to set up defensively. A more rapid pace and quicker decisions open the possibility of live-ball turnovers, run-outs and transition scoring opportunities for opponents.

Despite the continuity with their roster, it’s one of the many categories the Bulls have been unable to balance consistently.

“These are the things consistently and habitually that we’ve got to get better at,” Donovan said. “Because if you look at all of us together, we’ve been good in some close games. We’ve been not so good in close games. We’ve been poor on defense. We’ve been really good on defense. You can almost take any kind of scenario and say, ‘At a certain point in time they were good at that.’ ”

(Photo of Ayo Dosunmu: Tim Nwachukwu / Getty Images)