How Miami Heat Stack Up Against The Top Teams In The East: Chicago Bulls
The Chicago Bulls and the Miami Heat are in a similar situation this season. Both teams strengthened their rosters in the offseason and everything worked out from there.
The Chicago Bulls play well together. They are one of the few teams, besides the Heat, who can say that they are a top team both offensively and defensively.
The Bulls are numerically tied with the Heat for first place in the East, but the Heat take the outright lead there due to a head-to-head tiebreaker. It’s still pretty impressive when you think about how much time some of their key players have missed.
Zach LaVine missed 12 games. Lonzo Ball has missed 24 games and will miss even more time, while Alex Caruso has missed 31 games.
Other than their cohesive efforts on both ends of the floor, the Bulls stand out because they have a lot of options. Nikola Vucevic is perhaps the most underrated center in the NBA.
He is very talented, but his name is almost never mentioned. The biggest reason why the Bulls are playing so well is DeMar DeRozan.
He has been phenomenal. Before this season, DeRozan was considered a borderline All-Star, at best.
Now, he is in serious contention for league MVP.
He has had the best season in a Bulls uniform since Michael Jordan. Maybe the change of scenery was all that DeMar needed.
He actually looks Like Mike out there. The Miami Heat match up pretty well with Chicago.
The Heat probably have the edge when it comes to depth, but the Bulls have better scorers. The biggest advantage Miami has against Chicago is experience.
The Miami Heat core has more overall and playoff experience than the trio of DeRozan, LaVine, and Vucevic. Also, the Heat have four veterans that have won championships and nearly everyone else was a part of the 2020 NBA Finals appearance.
There are many players on the Bulls, like Zach LaVine, who have never even reached the playoffs before. That would be the strongest edge there.