Two stars are set to start for the Chicago Bulls — and 5 other takeaways from their preseason finale

The Chicago Bulls finished the preseason 1-4 after falling to the Minnesota Timberwolves 114-105 on Thursday.

Nikola Vuevi led the Bulls with 21 points and 10 rebounds, while Ayo Dosunmu had 15 points and two steals in his second preseason start.

The Bulls have five days to prepare for their season opening on Wednesday against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

Here are six things to remember from Thursday’s game.

1. Patrick Williams and Coby White likely to start in the opener.

Coach Billy Donovan started Williams and White in all five preseason games, and that trend is expected to continue in the regular season.

Following Thursday’s game, Donovan refused to commit to a starting lineup for opening day. However, he stated that it is a “fair assessment” that White and Williams will remain in their positions.

2. Zach LaVine and Andre Drummond sit out, Alex Caruso returns.

LaVine (sickness) and Drummond (personal reasons) did not play in the game on Thursday. Donovan stated that LaVine’s ailment was not a long-term issue. To keep the rest of the squad healthy, LaVine stayed at home and did not practice on Thursday.

Caruso returned to the lineup after sitting out the game against the Toronto Raptors on Tuesday. Caruso injured his ankle during practice and was held out as a precaution, but Donovan stated that if it had been a regular-season game, the guard would have played.

3. Patrick Williams responds to pressure.

Williams reacted with a dominant first half just two days after being yanked in the third minute of the Raptors game, smashing a slam off a baseline cut on the second play of the game, pinballing through traffic for layups, and bringing down rebounds on the defensive end.

“He had a look in his eye before the game,” White admitted following the defeat.

Williams collected four rebounds by the end of the first quarter, surpassing his preseason high.

Williams’ night was far from flawless. He went 0-for-7 from 3-point range, a rare occurrence for a player who was the Bulls’ most accurate 3-point shooter last season, and 3-for-12 overall. Worryingly, Williams’ continued declining after intermission — he didn’t have a rebound or a point in the second half.

But the progress pleased Donovan, who praised Williams’ impact on the game despite his poor shooting performance.

“He shot the ball horribly tonight.” “Really bad,” Donovan added. “And everybody felt his presence in the game.”

4. Anthony Edwards throws down the hammer.

The NBA is anticipating a breakout season from Anthony Edwards, who demonstrated why opponents fear confronting him.
When he launched from just below the free-throw line for a slam in the second quarter, he clicked his heels as he floated over the paint to hammer the ball through the rim with one hand. However, his connection with Rudy Gobert, which included a devastating lob ball over White later in the quarter, demonstrated the range of ways Edwards can dismantle a defense.

ANT TOOK FLIGHT 😳 pic.twitter.com/3A1pVwEbZJ

— SportsCenter (@SportsCenter) October 20, 2023

Edwards finished with 19 points and five rebounds, sitting for most of the second half.

5. Extra perimeter passes help 3-point volume.

After three games of reverting to a low volume of long-range shots, the Bulls increased their reliance on 3-pointers.

Players lobbed extra passes to the wings in an attempt to convert 2-point tries into 3-pointers, often passing up open shots near the rim to blast the ball out to the perimeter. By the eighth minute of the fourth quarter, when deep rotational players Terry Taylor and Carlik Jones entered the game, the offense had logged 30 shots from outside the arc.

The Bulls were not rewarded for their effort, finishing 11-for-36 from 3-point range — a statistic hurt by Williams’ 0-for-7 outing. But the pace and balance of the offense reflected the ideal for an improved version of offense.

6. Julian Phillips shows out in garbage time.