In A Shocking Development, Both The Bulls And The Sixers Are Easily The Biggest Surprises Of The New NBA Season

Now that the NBA season is a little over a week old, that means it's the perfect time for wild overreactions. For the most part, much of the season has gone as we expected. The Thunder are still a wagon with SGA continuing to play at an MVP level, the Nuggets look to be even better than their 2023 title team and might also be a wagon, Steph is doing vintage Steph shit in GS, Giannis is as dominant as ever in MIL, and of course, Wemby is exploding like everyone anticipated he would.

And while that's all been fun as hell to watch, that's not the purpose of this blog. This is a blog about surprises. Things that almost nobody saw coming, and while it may still be early in the NBA season, I can't help but feel like what we're seeing is both real and largely sustainable.  

Part of me can't believe I am typing this sentence, but it may very well be time to start taking both the Chicago Bulls and the Philadelphia 76ers seriously.

I know, I know, early season overreactions blah blah blah. Look, I'm just telling you the reality of what things look like in the Eastern Conference. Heading into the season, if you were asked to name which teams in the East after the first week would be undefeated, how many would you list before you got to the Bulls (4-0) and the Sixers (4-0)? Probably pretty far given how most felt about both of those teams after the last handful of years.

And yet, somehow, we've teleported back to 2021-22? You may remember that season as the year the Bulls started the season atop of the Eastern Conference. In fact, they owned the top spot in the East as late as the end of February. In the end, Lonzo Ball got hurt, and they finished 6th, but they still won 46 games. To this day, that's the most wins in a Bulls season since 2014-15 (50). With the Sixers, it was the same thing, they floated the year around the top 2-3 seed and won 51 games, which tied MIL/BOS for the 2nd most in the East that year. 

The point is, things have been pretty dark for both of these teams/franchises over the last handful of years. A lot of losing, a lot of gross basketball, no real direction, just the exact opposite of where you want to be, especially in the weaker conference.

But now? There are legitimate reasons for excitement for both. For the first time in the last handful of years, not only do both of these teams look to be turning a corner, but they are fun as hell to watch. In a wide open East this year, why can't they keep things rolling? 

For the Sixers, it all goes back to what feels like a changing of the guard. While Joel Embiid and Paul George may be the big name and high salary players on this roster, don't be confused. This surprise Sixers start is mainly due to the fact that all signs point to the Sixers having one of if not the most lethal backcourts in not just the East, but the entire NBA

After some devastating Lottery selections over the last few years, I think it's safe to say that VJ Edgecombe has already shown he's the real deal and can absolutely be a main piece moving forward. I mean, holy shit. The second he stepped on an NBA court, not only did he prove he belonged, he's dominated. This type of outcome is exactly why teams tank. You don't need the #1 pick, you just need to pick the right guy, and I don't think I'm being dramatic when I suggest that Edgecombe may very well have saved The Process. He's that good. Mind you, the Sixers are still ramping Embiid up and haven't even had George or McCain play yet either. In prior years, they were always Embiid merchants to some degree. If he wasn't right or couldn't produce, they couldn't win.

Now? Behind this backcourt? It's almost like Embiid is a luxury and not a necessity, which is a BIG DEAL moving forward. The Sixers currently own the 2nd best offense in the NBA. They lead the NBA in 3P% (41.9%). They're top 3 in FTA even without Embiid's flopping (36.6). They barely turn it over, ranking 2nd in the NBA in TOV (12.5). They're 2nd in the NBA in BLKs (7.6).

Their defense still leaves more to be desired, and ultimately, their ceiling will come down to Embiid's health and production, but you're lying to yourself if you expected their backcourt to be the most productive pairing in the NBA and for Maxey to lead the NBA in scoring. I don't think anything we've seen from either guy feels like an outlier, and given the landscape of the East, why shouldn't this be a top 3-4 seed? That's certainly higher than most had the Sixers heading into the year, but the way they're playing usually translates into that high of a seed.

And then, there's the Bulls. Nobody, and I mean nobody has lived in NBA Purgatory more than the Bulls. That franchise has put their fans through absolute hell for years now. Never being good enough to contend, never being bad enough to get into top of the Lottery. It's the worst place a team without a top 5 player can be, bar none.

Yet now, you watch them and they are fun as hell. This is a team that has stayed the course, committed to Billy Donovan's system and finally, things appear to be paying off. Last year, we saw early signs of this jump, as the Bulls were what I would call "fun bad". They played hard, they played fast and free, but they were flawed. Now, with more time under Donovan's system and some internal development from their own young guys, it's not a joke to suggest the Bulls are not only better, but they're back to being fun.

Why? For me, that starts with Matas Buzelis

I LOVE Buzelis. Last year, he was my dark horse candidate for ROY, and after watching him this past summer in person out in Vegas for Summer League, you could feel the explosion coming in Year 2. He looks bigger, more confident, and he plays with an attitude/edge that's impossible not to love. He talks shit, he backs it up, and for a team that has desperately been searching for a #1, it sure does feel like Buzelis is playing himself into that role.

But the most surprising thing about the Bulls' start? Easy, their defense. Anyone who watches the NBA and sees teams that take a leap into being legit playoff caliber knows that things always start on the defensive end. Once you make that leap into being respectable defensively, the wins soon follow. Last year, the Bulls were 19th in the NBA in defense. So far this year? 3rd in the NBA. As a team, they own the 5th best net rating in basketball at the moment, up from 20th last year. Their point differential? At +8.5, it sits in 2nd in the entire Eastern Conference. We're seeing the foundation of a team's leap up the standings unfold right before our eyes. So far we've seen the Bulls take down the Pistons, Magic, Hawks and Kings, three of which were all projected to be legit playoff teams in the East. Their next test tomorrow night comes against the Knicks, and if they win that too? I don't know how you couldn't start taking the Bulls seriously. Not as a title contender or anything like that, but as a team that may finally be getting out of NBA purgatory. No more Play In bullshit, and an actual 45-50 win team that sits comfortably in the top 6. You're telling me Bulls fans wouldn't take that? In what seems like the blink of an eye, they've gone from mostly unwatchable and fairly depressing to must-watch and fun as hell. I see no reason why that shouldn't continue barring injury.

Stuff like this is why I continue to stress that every NBA season is worth watching. Every year, there are going to be surprises that nobody saw coming, and the way both the Bulls and Sixers have started their seasons is a great example of that. All the hype of the offseason was around teams like the Magic, Pistons, Hawks, Knicks, and Cavs. I can't ever remember seeing anything about the Bulls or Sixers, yet here we are with both of those teams sitting atop the East at 4-0 and looking damn good doing it. 

Now comes the hard part, though. Sustaining this start. It's one thing to have a good opening week, it's another thing to do it night in and night out for 6+ months. Time will tell how things shake out, but based on what we've seen I think those fanbases have every right to be excited about their basketball teams, something they probably haven't felt in years.