The Celtics, the Bucks, the Nets …
The 76ers, the Heat, the Cavaliers …
The Hawks, the Raptors …
Feel free to say “stop” wherever you have the Bulls slotting into the Eastern Conference standings this season.
In this week’s “Polling Place,” your home for Sun-Times sports polls on Twitter, we asked if the Bulls will finish top-six in the East, if they’ll be in play-in range (seventh through 10th) or if — yikes — they’ll be out of the postseason mix altogether.
Not all that encouragingly, a majority of voters went with the play-in option.
“It’s in their future,” @JBIRD1268 commented matter-of-factly.
We also asked respondents to identify the team’s most important player. A season ago, it was newcomer DeMar DeRozan. More fans probably had expected it to be Zach LaVine. What about this time?
“Zach is ready to prove he is the star of this team,” @RonaldVoigt4 wrote.
Finally, we asked which recent Bulls draftee has the biggest upside. Is it Patrick Williams, the No. 4 overall pick in 2020? On to the polls:
Poll No. 1: Where will the Bulls end up in the Eastern Conference standings?
With the start of the season almost here, it’s time for a Bulls-themed “Polling Place.” Let us hear from you! Selected comments will appear in Saturday's paper.
— Chicago Sun-Times (@Suntimes) October 13, 2022
Q1: Where will the Bulls end up in the Eastern Conference standings?
Upshot: DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic are in their 30s. They’re not here to bang their heads against the wall with play-in meaninglessness, but that’s what a majority of voters see coming. If only Lonzo Ball were healthy, things would look so much more promising. Still, we can hope the Bulls will reverse last season’s course by getting stronger — not weaker — heading into April. That could even be pretty exciting.
Poll No. 2: Who will be the Bulls’ MVP?
Q2: Who will be the Bulls’ MVP?
— Chicago Sun-Times (@Suntimes) October 13, 2022
Upshot: If LaVine continues to improve at the defensive end, gets better at finding teammates with the ball, is even more aggressive looking to score and — most important — stays healthy, there’s no reason it shouldn’t be him. Otherwise, DeRozan will just keep doing what he does, including taking the big shots in the fourth quarter, for as long as he can because that’s how the dude is wired.
Poll No. 3: Which recent Bulls draft pick has the biggest upside?
Q3: Which recent Bulls draft pick has the biggest upside?
— Chicago Sun-Times (@Suntimes) October 13, 2022
Upshot: “Upside? P-Will. Who will be the best? Ayo,” @bulls_truther offered. But the question was about upside, and, as @martianbosh wrote, “If you shopped these names around other teams’ GMs, no question Williams would fetch the most return value.” That isn’t wrong, the results of this poll notwithstanding.
