Michael Reaves/Getty
It was initially just a one-word answer from Lonzo Ball.
“Effort,” the Bulls guard replied a few weeks back when asked about how to improve the sinking defense.
He wasn’t wrong, but he also wasn’t 100% accurate. There’s another reason the Bulls have had the sixth-best defensive efficiency rating (114.1) in the month of December so far.
Actually, make that six reasons.
Brooklyn, San Antonio, Indiana, Philadelphia, Charlotte and Toronto.
Those have been the six opponents for the Bulls so far this December, and not one of them is in the top half of the league in offensive efficiency for the month.