The Bulls aren’t fixed and it’ll take more than a seven-game sample size to prove it, but Jim Boylen’s group appears to be taking baby steps toward improvement.

Since returning home from the nightmare that was a winless five-game road trip and losing to the Miami Heat in their first game back, the Bulls are 2-5 with a -1.8 net rating. That may not seem great – and it really isn’t – but it’s a significant improvement from where they had been.

Before January 21, the Bulls were 5-17 with a -11.6 net rating, second worst in the NBA behind the flailing Cleveland Cavaliers (-15.2). The offense was the league’s least efficient by a full point and the defense was in a battle with Phoenix for third worst in the NBA.

But the Bulls have been better over the last two weeks. The bar was set incredibly low, and even this stretch of improved play has included home losses to Atlanta and Cleveland. But it’s also included a win in Miami – the Heat beat Boston at home nine days earlier – and a drubbing of the Cavaliers on the road; that wasn’t so much impressive as it was exactly what a team should have done, and they did it.

They also played competitively against a good Clippers team, had the Nets on the ropes and led the Hornets by 10 at halftime on Saturday. A 2-5 record is still a 23-win pace, so we’re not about to anoint the rebuild back on track. But that -1.8 net rating is 20th in the NBA, ahead of teams like Utah and Sacramento. We can’t stress sample size enough here, but it’s improvement nonetheless. At this point the Bulls will take what they can get.

In that stretch the Bulls are 19th in offensive efficiency – two games against Cleveland helps – and 15th in defensive efficiency – again, two games against Cleveland helps. Those numbers include a thumping of the No. 7 ranked defense in Miami, and a competitive showing against the Clippers’ No. 11 offense.

But they’ve picked up the pace (99.43 in that span; 96.93 before under Boylen), cut down on turnovers (13.6 percent; 15.3 percent before) and are shooting it better (52.3 effective field goal percentage; 49.5 percent before).

Lauri Markkanen is finally putting together a cluster of good games, averaging 19.8 points and 10.8 rebounds over his last nine games. He’s shooting 43 percent from the field, but is also making 40 percent from beyond the arc and 90 percent at the free throw line. His defense has been shaky but the Bulls need him to show consistency as a scorer in the last 29 games, and right now he’s providing just that.

Zach LaVine and Bobby Portis are also putting together solid offensive showings, the latter of whom is doing so at a perfect time right before he hits restricted free agency this summer.

With a handful of winnable games on the schedule in February (New Orleans, Washington, and Memphis twice) there’s an opportunity for the Dunn/Markkanen/LaVine core to build on this small but marked stretch of improved play.

The Bulls will also get to see some more of Wayne Selden Jr., who is proving to be a worthwhile addition (plus the two second round picks they got from Memphis) and potentially Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot, who the Bulls acquired over the weekend from Oklahoma City.

Wednesday will also mark the final game before Thursday’s NBA trade deadline. More spots could open up for improvement if guys like Robin Lopez or Jabari Parker are dealt. Eventually Chandler Hutchison will return from a broken big toe, improving the young nucleus over the last couple dozen games of the season.

It’s nothing big and could turn sour just as quickly as it’s gotten a smidge better, but for a 12-40 team these small improvements – Cleveland-aided or not – is at least something positive to consider. For the pro-Zion crowd, don't worry: the Bulls are still owners of the league's fourth worst record and will have plenty of opportunities to rack up losses. For now, it's nice to see a team going through a positive (by their standards) stretch.