NEWSLETTER
The Athletic released their anonymous NBA player survey on Monday, and the Chicago Bulls were surprisingly well-represented.
While not all 142 players answered every question, the sample size is still large enough to get a pretty decent understanding of how certain people are viewed around the league. Multiple Bulls were name-dropped throughout the survey results, including their two young guards!
Bulls Who Appeared in NBA Player Poll
Both Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu received votes for “most underrated player” in the league. A total of 126 votes were cast for this query, and White received 3.2 percent (roughly four votes) and Dosunmu received 1.6 percent (roughly two votes). I know that doesn’t feel like a lot of recognition, but White was tied with Franz Wagner for receiving the 7th-highest percentage of votes in this category. As far as I’m concerned, the fact that either one of these guys even came to mind speaks to the sizable step they’ve taken over the past year.
Alex Caruso was the Bulls’ other guard to pop out in the survey, finishing with 5.3 percent of the votes for “best defender.” He finished behind Victor Wembanyama (15.2%), Jrue Holiday (12.9%), Lu Dort (9.8%), Herb Jones (8.3%), Jaden McDaniels (8.3%), and Rudy Gobert (6.0%). I have to admit, I’m a little surprised he didn’t end up higher. I understand the respect for Wembanyama’s freakish talents and Holiday’s proven resume, but I think Caruso may very well be the second-best defensive guard in the league. The fact some of those other names finished ahead of him is a head-scratcher. Maybe some of the voters are just mad about how much he embarrassed them.
Of course, the player survey wouldn’t be complete without also asking everybody for their GOAT. The good news is that Michael Jordan remains at the front of the pack and received 45.9 percent of the votes. The bad news is that LeBron James continues to gain ground around the NBA and received 42.1 percent of the votes. The Athletic noted this is the third straight year we’ve seen Jordan’s stock drop, with this being the most drastic. The Chicago Bulls’ legend sat ahead of James by as many as 25.3 percentage points just last year.
I’ll be fascinated to see if Jordan can hold onto his lead next season. I’m sure which players ultimately decide to partake in the survey plays a big role in this specific result, but we also can’t deny a younger generation is taking over. The younger the league gets, the more love James is bound to get. Fortunately, I still have a hard time believing James is bound to surpass Jordan in the eyes of the general public any time soon.
The last thing that feels worth noting from the survey is one area where the Bulls didn’t appear. When asked which coach players would most like to play for (and this couldn’t be their own head coach), Billy Donovan’s name didn’t come up once. A total of 24 head coaches were given at least one vote, but not the Bulls’ right-hand man. Conversely, his name did appear under head coaches that players would least like to play for, though he only received a small 1.3 percent of votes out of 77 players.
Still, for an organization in desperate need of a facelift, it doesn’t necessarily bode well that your head coach is seemingly an afterthought. This kind of stuff matters when we’re talking about free agency and long-term trajectory. Alas, Arturas Karnisovas did nothing but stand by Donovan during his end-of-season presser, so the expectation remains that he’s as safe as can be.
For complete results, I encourage you to go take a look at the full survey over on The Athletic.
