On January 4, the regular season continued, the Bulls sat at home to meet the Magic, after four fierce competitions, with better lineup depth and offensive and defensive performance, they finally won 102-98, winning eight consecutive games.
After this campaign, the Bulls' record this season reached 25 wins and 10 losses, ranking first in the East and two wins ahead of the second-place Nets. It should be noted that the Bulls only achieved a dismal record of 31 wins and 41 losses last season, ranking 11th in the East. The season schedule is not yet halfway through, and the Bulls only need six wins to surpass last season's win count. At the start of the season, no one would have imagined that they would be able to stand out.
The rise of the Bulls has benefited from a series of reinforcement operations in the past two years, the early introduction of All-Star center Vucevic has gradually integrated into the team, so far this season has handed over a double-double data of 21.5 points and 11.5 rebounds per game, and ball and Caruso introduced in the offseason have also brought a lot of help to the team's offensive and defensive ends; but if you want to say the finishing touch, it is undoubtedly deRozan introduced in the offseason.
Born in 1989, DeRozan, who is about to turn 33, is an uncompromising veteran. He entered the league in 2009, and although he has been selected to the All-Star and Best Teams many times so far, there are leaders like Curry and Harden in the same class, and there are stars like Griffin, who is always habitually ignored by everyone. Especially in the past three seasons, after switching to the Spurs, although his data is comprehensive and efficient, he has not received much positive evaluation because the team has failed to play in the playoffs consecutively.
What people did not expect is that this season's switch to bulls, for him, is quite a bit of a dead wood spring, bitter and willing to come. In 32 games this season, he averaged 35.3 minutes per game, averaging 26.9 points, 5 rebounds and 4.6 assists, shooting 49.2% from the field and 36.3% from three-point range. In the Bulls' last 16 games, he has played in 11 of them, and the team has maintained all wins, while in the other 5 games, the Bulls have lost 2 games and 3 have been postponed due to the epidemic.
As a shooting guard, DeRozan is different from some of the same position players in the current league, he is not good at outside projection, but he develops the offensive skill of mid-range to the extreme, getting the ball anywhere within the three-point line, he has countless ways to send basketball into the net, retro playing style, solid low-post technology and competitive personality, so that the media, fans will always associate it with two legendary shooting guards Jordan and Kobe, and he is also jokingly called "contemporary Jordan" and "Kobe Bryant".
In addition to his solid offensive skills, DeRozan's ability to play the key ball is equally impressive, and the data shows that so far this season, DeRozan has scored 241 points in the final quarter, ranking first in the league, shooting 53.2% in the final quarter, and ranking first among all players who have made at least 150 shots. A few days ago, he staged two consecutive final-minute whistle-blowing kills, which attracted praise from many players and fans.
Interestingly, just a few months ago, Los Angeles-based DeRozan wanted to return home to play for the Los Angeles Lakers, and the Lakers at the time also had a chance to get him; but the team chose another star guard, Weisbrook, for other reasons. Looking back now, the Lakers' original decision may make the management regret the intestines.