Can this Chicago team get any more disjointed? The Chiago Bulls have fallen to 11-16 with their 128-120 loss to the New York Knicks last night, pushing them down to 11th in the East and well outside the playoffs.
This team is so much better on paper than what they are producing on a nightly basis.
To have two former All-Stars (Zach LaVine, Nikola Vučević) and a former All-NBA (DeMar DeRozan) player regularly start and still be five games under .500 and not in a playoff spot is not only extremely disappointing, but also very worrisome about the future of this roster.
If this Bulls team can’t win games in an Eastern Conference that has been woefully inconsistent from the preseason expectations, then how will they realistically win meaningful playoff series against teams like the Celtics and Bucks? They won’t.
Yes, the Bulls have had key injuries to Zach LaVine and Lonzo Ball may not even play a minute this season, but the problems of this Bulls roster run deeper than just “injuries have derailed their season”.
This team has no perimeter defense, young role players have failed to live up to expectations and relieve the burdens from the veterans, there’s been internal strife between HC Billy Donovan and franchise superstar Zach LaVine, and this team flat out has no chemistry.
You can’t win games when you give up 35-50 3-point attempts with the opposition shooting 33-50%, and nor can you hope to win against the best teams in the league when the high draft picks, such as Patrick Williams, have played so poorly. Honestly, I think it’s time for the Bulls to give up on Williams as he just doesn’t have what it takes to be a starting power forward in the NBA.
Yes, he can have some good nights where he puts up 16 PTS (like he did against the Mavs a few games ago), but he has seven games of putting up a measly 11 PTS and 2 REB (like he did last night against the Knicks) for every Mavs game. He’s way to inconsistent to be counted on as a starting power forward for a playoff contending team, which the Bulls see themselves as.
As for the Bulls defending issues, that really comes down to a lack of awareness and commitment.
The Bulls perimeter defender simply need to close down their opposing guards and small forwards, forcing them to shoot tough, contested 3’s. As long as the Bulls players do that, they’ll drastically see a decrease in arc shots against them as the vast majority of NBA players don’t have the skillsets to make contested 3-point shots on a regular basis without turning the ball over a few times.
Still, those two solutions only resolve the minor, fixable problems that plague this team. The overarching problem that will continue to plague the Bulls is head coach Billy Donovan and his relationship with Zach LaVine and the rest of the team.
Simply put, Donovan probably has to go in order for the Bulls to succeed.
It’s obvious that there’s something that doesn’t click between these two, and that has plagued the rest of this team. Zach LaVine’s highly publicized struggles have gradually influenced the rest of the team to drop the Bulls’ lofty standards and play just as bad as the former All-Star.
Now, I’m not blaming LaVine for the rest of the Bulls struggles as that would be unfair, but I am saying that he has a tremendous sway over the locker room given his standing. He’s the Bulls best player but has played like one of the bench players. And that’s obviously a huge problem as it has undermined Donovan’s schemes and gameplans.
Unless the Donovan is able to get LaVine back on his game or figure out a new scheme to get the rest of the Bulls roster clicking, his time as the Bulls head coach will become ever more tenuous the longer Chicago drops games.
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