A Rant on the Bulls Season to This Point
Things need to be said. The Bulls have been very bad.
This season has sucked. From a tanking standpoint, it has been phenomenal, but all of these losses really pile up on the fans. Currently on a 9 game losing streak, everything seems to go wrong for the Bulls. Rarely is a competitive project on the floor during games. There hasn’t been a complete game since the overtime loss to the Indiana Pacers.
The Roster
The Bulls’ season felt lost from the get-go. Lauri Markkanen got injured in camp and missed the first 23 games of the season. Then Kris Dunn and Bobby Portis simultaneously sprained their MCLs and missed about 4 weeks. It was announced that Denzel Valentine would miss the entire season with ankle problems. Then Bobby Portis came back and injured his ankle causing him to miss even more time. Not that he was injured, but I have to throw Jabari Parker into the flame too. That signing has been nothing but a bust. Zach LaVine, while playing at an All-Star level on most nights, has also been bit by the injury bug a few times. Most recently, Wendell Carter Jr. missed his first game with a thumb sprain(though he is expected to play again on Saturday). The Bulls have been decimated. It’s hard to win, or at least be competitive, when the core-4 guys are missing. Sure LaVine and Lauri has kept the team in games, and Dunn has showed flashes as the closer, but the WHOLE TEAM has to show up on every given night.
Jabari Parker. Good lord what a mess. The $20 million man who refuses to play defense, has also forgotten how to play offense at times. Earlier in the season, every Jabari touch felt like this: Isolation, Drive into the Paint, Make/Miss layup, OR, Isolation, Stepback, BRICK. It got so bad that ex-Head Coach Fred Hoiberg completely removed him from the rotation. I’ll give him credit, Jabari has improved his flow within the offense, however he still doesn’t play defense. It’s amazing that a professional basketball player doesn’t even ATTEMPT to play defense most nights. Absolutely mind-boggling.
Zach LaVine has been very good this season. He has gotten All-Star consideration from the fans. Putting up 23 points a game will do that. He will be a very good player. Defense still needs improvement, but he has shown the willingness to do so *cough* Jabari *cough*. LaVine has his off nights, but that happens when you play the game at a professional level.
Kris Dunn has shown quite a bit of growth this season. Recently becoming a member of the Leadership Committee, he seems to have taken over the vocal role on offense and defense. He is a leader. The jumpshot still needs some work, along with being more willing to pull the trigger on 3 point shots, but that midrange jumper is CRISP. Dunn has also seemingly become the Bulls’ closer. While the role is semi-split with Zach LaVine, Kris has been just as good in late game situations. The best example this season was the 20 point comeback in San Antonio, led by Kris Dunn and Lauri Markkanen. Kris put that game on ice. He made sure the Bulls would win.
Lauri Markkanen has improved yet again this year. Some Bulls fans have questioned him, thinking that maybe he isn’t going to be quite as good as we thought. One guy took it as far as saying that we should be hopeful that Lauri becomes close to as good as Brook Lopez. Brook Lopez. BROOK LOPEZ!? There are so many things wrong with this argument, so I’ll save it for another day. Fans should be very pleased with Lauri this season. Last year, it could be questioned if Markkanen’s stats were inflated because he was the #1 scoring option with LaVine out. Lauri has proven that wrong. With LaVine in the lineup, Markkanen has improved his output by 2 points per game(An increase from 15 to 17ppg). Even with the missed time due to an injury on his shooting elbow, Lauri has become slightly more efficient from the field and from distance. He is the franchise cornerstone. I have nothing bad to say about him. As his game develops even further, he should warrant serious All-Star consideration.
The Coaching
Fred Hoiberg was fired too soon. Neither him nor Jim Boylen were/are the long term answers at coach, but I would have liked to see what Fred could have done with a fully-healthy roster. Boylen-Ball is very painful to watch most nights. The team has lost games ridiculously badly in Boylen’s tenure. The highlight of these was the 56 point blowout AT HOME against the Celtics. This was also the game of Boylen’s infamous 5-Man Substitution method. Oh did I mention that this was the worst loss in franchise history? Because it was THE WORST LOSS in FRANCHISE HISTORY. Don’t get me wrong, there were VERY bad losses in Hoiberg’s tenure. But he’s gone. The defense has improved on paper under Boylen, but the team itself is still giving up. In last night’s 135-105 loss to the Denver Nuggets, the Bulls gave up after the 1st half. The Nuggets were taking their time to line-up 3 pointers and drain them without resistance. Players had their heads down. The team wasn’t at all inspired. Jim Boylen claimed that he would try and get these players to play for that “B-U-L-L-S” across the chest, and it really hasn’t been seen. The best game this year was the OT loss to the Pacers and it isn’t close. The whole core showed out that day. Boylen’s coaching seemed to be great that day. Not everything is as it seems. The core is great. They will be successful in the future. However, this WILL NOT have sustained success with Boylen at the helm. I can’t see it. Bulls Nation doesn’t see it. There has to be at least some kind of coaching search this offseason before settling for another year of Boylen-Ball.
Next Year
Overall, this season has been a disaster. While the young players have taken great strides in development, the rest has been awful. From players going to the League Office about Jim Boylen’s long practices one week into his tenure, to the Jabari Parker signing, it has been a flop.
The most that can be hoped for, for the rest of this season, is that the young guys continue to develop and that the Bulls get a Top 3 pick in June. It is possible that Jim Boylen can provoke more competitive games from this roster, but I don’t see many of them translating into wins. The team has to show some fight. It can’t just roll-over and die because the other team is making shots.
You have to play for that B-U-L-L-S across the chest. This is the Chicago Bulls after all. Play for the history. Play for the now. Play like every night could be your last in the league.
Play Ball.
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