“The best offense is good defense.” — Anonymous Basketball Proverb

Obviously, preventing the opponent from scoring is nice, but as the Cubs learned the hard way, the offense still needs to get going at some point (thank the baseball gods they did).

But there’s another way to look at this adage: forcing live ball turnovers takes away a scoring opportunity and leads to a transition chance. According to this research done in January 2016, the NBA average points per possession on live ball turnovers (turnovers that led to a fast break chance) were 1.35 points per possession while dead-ball turnovers (those that had to be taken from out-of-bounds, presumably resulting in a set defense) were 0.91 points per possession. That’s almost a staggering 50 percent better.

Here’s a great example of what can come of a live-ball turnover from Monday’s preseason game against Charlotte.

Taj Gibson gets handsy, Jimmy Butler jumps the passing lane and gets the runway dunk. With no one in front of him, this is the easiest two points in basketball.

So, teams should be trying to force more turnovers because the the chance of scoring is so much higher. Right?

Not so fast. There is potential disaster waiting to strike.

It’s no secret the Bulls defense has been very bad. Here, Rajon Rondo goes for a steal and when he misses, he takes himself out of the play entirely, leading to a 5-on-4 advantage for Charlotte. Since Cristiano Felicio is guarding a sharpshooting big man, he gravitates away from the paint, and doesn’t have a chance to defend the rim against the slicing Kemba Walker.

“There were four or five guys that had gambles that led to baskets for the other team,” head coach Fred Hoiberg told reporters after the overtime loss. “It breaks your defense down, and then you’re playing five-on-four. We need to eliminate it.”

Butler corroborated that sentiment after the game as well, claiming the Bulls overdo it on the gambling, and the opponents always take advantage.

“We gamble a lot. We gotta break that habit. I’m telling you, every time we gamble, the team always seems to make the shot, they never miss, so yeah, we have to cut that out,” Butler told the media, blaming himself for setting the tone. “I think I set a bad example. If I do it and I get it, it’s good. But if I don’t, then everyone’s like “don’t gamble,” which makes sense. You gotta go with your instincts. That’s why it’s called gambling. If you lose, you lose. If you win, you go home with a lot of money. We gotta pick and choose when we do that.”

Given the way defenses play this Bulls team, and how much of a struggle it will be for the Bulls starters to score in their half-court sets, it might benefit the Bulls to play this high-risk, high-reward game and hope it works in their favor.

Fred Hoiberg can’t just say, “go get more steals, guys!” The Bulls are 24th this preseason in opponent turnover percentage at 13.7, which is actually a slight improvement from last season where the Bulls ranked 29th at 12.0. This is to say the Bulls are really, really bad at forcing turnovers, live or dead.

Hoiberg has struggled to find ways to manufacture easy offense, but going all in on jumping passing lanes could be an effective way to do so. There is definitely a downside, the Bulls might be better equipped than ever to fully embrace this type of scheme.

The new roster features a ton of length. Rondo’s wingspan is 6-foot-9, Dwyane Wade’s is 6-foot-11, Butler’s is 6-foot-7, Michael Carter-WIlliams’ is 6-foot-7, Denzel Valentine’s is 6-foot-10. Each of these core backcourt players has the reach to tip passes away and can afford to get a little out of position because they have the length to get back and bother shots if they miss.

Most importantly, Robin Lopez has shown to be a force protecting the rim and can clean up some of the messiness on bad or unsuccessful steal attempts.

Think back to the 2014-2015 Milwaukee Bucks . They were a top defensive team in the league because of their hyper-switchy strategy, anchored by an excellent positional defender in Zaza Pachulia. They lost Pachulia the following year, and their defensive rating dropped from 99.3, which was second in the league, to 105.7, 21st in the league, despite having the same core of perimeter defenders. In fact, Carter-Williams was key in that switch-heavy scheme that forced the highest turnover ratio in the league, 17.7

The Bulls may not have the personnel to launch three-balls like the rest of the NBA, but they may have the personnel to force steals and get easy buckets in transition. It’s not quite so simple, but having extreme length and a quality defensive big in the back could be the template for an elite defense.

Not only has defense been a major weakness for the Bulls last year and this preseason, but so has transition scoring. Despite the heightened scoring advantage for the opposition, getting in passing lanes, gambling on steals and forcing live-ball turnovers may be a dangerous way to play, but it could kill those two birds with one stone.