National Basketball Association

Chicago Bulls at Milwaukee Bucks: Game Outlook

Published Jun. 30, 2017 6:28 p.m. ET

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The Chicago Bulls head to Milwaukee tonight to seek revenge against the Greek Freak and the Milwaukee Bucks. Here are some key factors to watch for in game four of the preseason.

The Bulls are in the doldrums of the preseason (if that’s possible in a stretch of seven games), taking on the Milwaukee Bucks for the second time this year. This will be the second of three games in four nights for the Bulls, and coach Fred Hoiberg is making a concerted effort to rest his stars as much as necessary.

In the preseason opener, the Bulls fell to the Bucks 93-91, and their two biggest problems were the same problems we talked about all summer long: 3-point shooting and perimeter defense. The Bulls shot 26.3 percent from 3-point as a team and allowed a 40 percent outing from the Bucks. For perspective, the Bulls were third in the league in 3-point percentage last year at 37.1 percent and the Bucks came in at 34.5 percent, good for 22nd in the league.

But that’s in the past right? The Bulls have four whole games under their belt now. Surely, the team’s defense has gelled more. Disregard the fact that they allowed 108 points from the Cavs summer league team last night and life will be a lot less stressful.

Let’s go through some other things to keep an eye on for tonight’s game.

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Notable absences

Coach Hoiberg is taking it easy with his guys tonight, resting all #ThreeAlphas and Taj Gibson too. To add to that, Denzel Valentine is still not back from his injury, and Tony Snell will be sitting for about a week.

It looks like future first ballot Hall of Famer Paul Zipser will be starting at the small forward position, according to K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune (not the Hall of Fame part, that’s all me).

Zipser impressed a lot of people last night against the Cavs, scoring 18 points on 7-for-9 shooting. Look to see Doug McDermott, Spencer Dinwiddie and Bobby Portis soak up a lot of the free minutes as well.

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On the Bucks’s side, it looks like most everyone will be playing tonight, with the exception of Khris Middleton, who’s out for six months with a hamstring injury, and 2015 first-round pick Rashad Vaughn.

Without arguably their four best players on the court, the Bulls will likely struggle to contain Point Giannis, Jabari Parker and Greg Monroe. That leads us to…

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Defensive Woes

I write all this with the obligatory “It’s just the preseason” caveat, but the Bulls’ defense has not looked good through four games. The Bulls have allowed, on average, 105.3 points per game, which would have ranked them 23rd in the league last year.

They’ve allowed the Bucks, an objectively bad 3-point shooting team (that’s missing their best shooter) shoot 40 percent from 3. They let what was essentially the Cavs Summer League team put up 108 points.

This isn’t to say that there haven’t been any bright spots. Rondo and Wade have fought for some pesky steals, and a frontcourt combination of Robin Lopez and Taj Gibson could prove to be a pretty formidable interior. We’ve seen firsthand what Jimmy is capable of defensively, and it’s entirely possible that he could rocket back up to where he was two years ago once the regular season starts and the offensive burden isn’t entirely on his shoulders.

Now that we’ve gotten that positivity out of the way, don’t keep your hopes up that the Bulls’ D will be out of the bottom five in the league.

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Free Felicio

In one of the biggest mysteries of the season so far, fan favorite Cristiano Felicio has yet to see more than 15 minutes in a game. Almost all of his minutes have been restricted to fourth quarter garbage time, and there doesn’t seem to be any explanation as to why.

Felicio came on surprisingly strong at the tail end of last year’s season, proving that he was capable of playing real minutes. He dove hard on pick and rolls and quickly became beloved by the Bulls fan base.

Despite that late season performance (plus a strong showing in the Summer League), Hoiberg has kept Felicio’s minutes confusingly low so far. There’s no sign of injury or a minutes limit of any kind. Hopefully Gibson taking the night off will mean more playing time for the Brazilian.

Felicio could potentially be a huge part of the Bulls second unit this year, but he has to have a chance to prove that, and that can only be done on the court.

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