Bulls' Problem Isn't Who's Missing. It's Who They Are.

The Chicago Bulls don’t change when players go missing. They just reveal who they are faster.

Friday’s 121–114 win over the Orlando Magic showcased everything that keeps them competitive. 

A 112–99 loss to the Charlotte Hornets one night later revealed everything that caps them.

The Bulls entered the weekend 1–2 without Coby White, Josh Giddey, and Zach Collins, and 3–1 with them.

Healthy or not, they’re prisoners to their identity because of their personnel. 

Billy Donovan has expressed that the team’s ability to compete has more to do with them defending cohesively, moving the ball, protecting possessions and executing than who’s available.

Against Orlando, those principles were upheld.

The Bulls controlled the paint and the glass, and swung the game with their bench.

Against Charlotte, the Bulls came within two points of setting a new season-high for points scored in a first quarter, then failed to score more than 24 points in any quarter thereafter. Jalen Smith’s departure didn’t help matters. The Bulls were burned on the glass by a Hornets team missing much of its front-court rotation and came completely undone at the seams after his collision with LaMelo Ball disrupted everything.

"I'm a believer shots are going to come and go," Donovan told reporters on Saturday, "but I always believe you can block out better, you can put your body in plays on drives, communicate. We have to fight for the margins."

That tension is why Matas Buzelis matters so much.

Internal development is the only way for the franchise to escape mediocrity, which for the Bulls means Buzelis growing into something more than a promising piece.

He looked the part against the Magic, but his 17-point, eight-rebound and three-assist outing against the Hornets lacked the same bite or influence. The production came, but the game never bent around him the way it did one night earlier. The second-year forward has looked best when paired with two bigs. With Collins nursing a sprained toe and Smith a concussion, that lineup experiment will be shelved indefinitely.

It’s another reminder of how thin the Bulls’ margin is when their most hopeful variable wavers.

Injuries matter, but they don’t define the team. Equilibrium does.

These games aren’t about survival. 

The Bulls are competitive enough to stay involved, organized enough to avoid collapse, and limited enough that even their best nights don’t change the math.

Which is why, at 17–18, they’re on pace to fight the Milwaukee Bucks for their fourth straight play-in tournament berth.

As the Feb. 5 trade deadline approaches, the question isn’t whether the Bulls can function through absences.

It’s whether functioning in this familiar middling way is enough to continue to satisfy the front office.