While the Chicago Bulls are cherishing the most out of this season of fruition, their capabilities are still being tested as a title-contending team.
And from the eyes of lead man DeMar DeRozan, the red and black have all the tools in order to mix on the party of championship contenders and further prove the doubters wrong.
Joining ESPN’s NBA Today on Thursday, the four-time All-star downplayed the Bulls’ critics from the start of the season, saying that his squad is heavily motivated to squash their issues regarding the roster and rotational fit.
“As a competitor, you always wanna beat anybody in anything that they say you can’t do,” DeRozan said. “I definitely seen it, my teammates seen it – and we took it personally. We let our games speak for ourselves. I was spoking, we gotta go out on the court and go out compete.”
The high-powered, scoring swingman has high spirits on Chi-town’s chances in this 75th season of the league, claiming that their utmost potential in capturing the franchise’s seventh coveted Larry O’Brien trophy.
“Everything – the ceiling, our goal is the championship,” DeRozan told Malika Andrews. “You know, we ain’t gonna cut ourselves short. This is an opportunity that we can take advantage of. We don’t take it lightly – we understand what’s at stakes.
“We respect all of top teams in the conference – everything – but we gotta go out there and compete every single night. We ain’t gonna cut ourselves short, we feel like we can play with anybody and the goal is to compete for a championship.”
With DeRozan leading the way, assisted by fellow stars Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic, and backed up by a trustworthy supporting cast in Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso, the mighty Bulls are laser-focused on retaining the NBA throne since the golden times of Michael Jordan in the 90s. Currently occupying the first seed of the formidable Eastern Conference with a 25-10 record, they are looking to sustain the sizzling performances they have en route to basketball glory.
DeRozan and his Chicago squad will look to snatch their ninth consecutive dub, as they face the Washington Wizards within the United Center on Friday.
