Bulls Players Who Have to Elevate Their Game in 2024

Despite faring a bit better of late, the Chicago Bulls have mostly had a nightmarish start to the 2023-24 NBA season.

The front office has put real win-now assets into constructing this team, and it wouldn't even have a Play-In Tournament invitation if the campaign closed right now.

The external calls to blow up this roster haven't gone anywhere, and they could get even louder if the following three players can't make major improvements moving forward.

Jevon Carter better get an awesome gift for Coby White this holiday season.

Because if not for the breakout of the young Bulls guard, there would be a ton of talk about how disappointing Carter has been in his first season with Chicago.

As soon as the ink dried on the three-year, $20 million pact he signed this summer, expectations were cranked up. A dogged defender who played a low-maintenance offensive game built around passing and catch-and-launch perimeter shooting, he looked like the club's best bet to fill in for the injured Lonzo Ball.

Since losing the point guard competition to White, though, Carter has slipped to the back end of the rotation. He's sitting just ninth on the team in average minutes (14.2), and he can't push for any more playing time without becoming some kind of scoring threat. He's been less of a defense-first contributor than an outright defense-only player, as he's shooting just 37.3 percent overall and 35.4 percent from three (both his worst rates since his rookie season).

The Bulls have been waiting on a Patrick Williams breakout since...well, the second he was announced as the No. 4 pick of the 2020 draft.

So, any time he flashes any kind of improvement, it's always tempting to wonder whether the light bulb has finally clicked. December has been his best month by a mile, but he still isn't consistently showing the kind of force Chicago wants (and needs) him to play with.

"You want to stay away from those large gaps where it's like, 'Who are we getting night to night?'" Bulls coach Billy Donovan told reporters. "Patrick can control that force and aggressiveness. That's all we need consistently from him. And I think he's capable of doing that."

Williams might be capable of that, but he needs to start doing it. Like now. With Torrey Craig staring at a lengthy absence, Chicago needs the best version of Williams as soon as he can provide it.

This might catch some off-guard, as it sure seems like Zach LaVine will spend much of 2024 in a different uniform.

In fact, a LaVine deal is "the main organizational focal point," per NBC Sports Chicago's K.C. Johnson.

Yet, that's the very reason to list LaVine here. The Bulls need him to flash his All-Star form to wake up his dormant trade market and facilitate his exit out of town.

He's been sidelined since late November by a foot injury, which surely isn't helping matters. However, he wasn't looking great even before going down. His 21 points and 3.4 assists are both his fewest since 2017-18, and his 56.6 true shooting percentage is also his worst mark of this stretch, per Basketball-Reference.