Chicago Bulls: 3 possible outcomes for the upcoming season

Most Likely Scenario:

The Chicago Bulls should be expected to make the play-in tournament as a 7-10 seed.

To make the Eastern Conference play-in tournament, FiveThirtyEight projects that a team would have to win between 40 and 45 games.

With 5 games separating the Brooklyn Nets, Cleveland Cavaliers, Charlotte Hornets, and New York Knicks, the Chicago Bulls would need to win at least 40 games to get a play-in berth and potentially another crack at the postseason.

Luckily for them, the Hornets now appear to be firmly in the race for Victor – already eliminating one team that was projected to stand in the Chicago Bulls’ way this season.

However, while Charlotte may be out of the picture, there are a lot of other young, hungry Eastern squads in Orlando, Detroit, and Washington who are eager to get a taste of the postseason.

The Bulls will have to fight every night to secure a spot in the playoffs because the Eastern Conference is as deep as its ever been.

However, the Bulls have the talent to do just that and with the money allocated to their big three, they should be expected to at least beat the teams they are better than on paper while continuing to push those teams above them.

All in all, the Chicago Bulls are not a contending team in the Eastern Conference this season. However, they are also not a bottom feeder.

They have the makings of a scrappy team with an unknown ceiling that rests in the hands of their younger core of Patrick Williams and Ayo Dosunmu.

With Coby White still in the fray and a young Dalen Terry waiting in the wings, the Bulls are a team that appears stuck between pushing their chips to the middle of the table and committing to another rebuild around a young core.

What happens in these next 82 games will likely be the deciding factor for where Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley take this team going forward.

Final Chicago Bulls 2022-23 record prediction: 43-39. 9th seed in the East.