Chicago Bulls
Shifting focus to the East, all the attention this season has been on the likes of the Miami Heat at the top of the Eastern Conference standings, the Philadelphia 76ers with MVP front-runner Joel Embiid and the Brooklyn Nets slippin down in the standings.
When you look at the top of the Eastern Conference standings, not only are the Miami Heat 38-21, but so are the Chicago Bulls!
Winning just a combined 53 games the last two seasons, the Bulls are on-pace to surpass 53 wins this season and they could very well claim the 1-seed ahead of the start of the playoffs.
Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic have been proving why they are multi-time All-Stars in this league this season, but the play of DeMar DeRozan has been special.
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DeMar DeRozan has been having the best season of his career at 32-years-old and he is the reason the Chicago Bulls have gone from bottom-tier to championship contender over the last year.
Not only has DeMar DeRozan been the leader of the Chicago Bulls this season with All-Stars in Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic next to him, but he is averaging a career-high 28.1 points per game (3rd in the NBA), he leads the Bulls in assists per game (5.1) and he has scored the most points out of any player in the league this season with 1,547 total points.
Since February 1, DeMar DeRozan ranks second in the league in points per game (35.8) and has helped the Bulls win five straight games. DeRozan also recently recorded 38 points against the Oklahoma City Thunder on February 12, marking his fifth straight game with at least 35 points, joining Bulls’ legend Michael Jordan as the only other player in franchise history to achieve such a feat.
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At 32-years-old, DeMar DeRozan has completely changed the narrative about his career and while he has always been known to be a really strong All-Star player, he is starting to show flashes of Hall-of-Fame potential.
With three highly talented All-Stars, as well as a handful of key secondary talents that should be healthy for the playoffs in Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso and Patrick Williams, the Bulls have everything they need to possibly win the Eastern Conference and reach the NBA Finals for the first-time since Michael Jordan helped the Bulls win their 6th title in 1998.
