The Chicago Bulls started their 2023-’24 season with a 20 point (124-104) loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder. Some are calling it an “embarrassing” loss, but those of us who have watched the Bulls for decades, or even just the last 3 years, knew it was coming. The Mid Three always struggle against teams that are younger, longer, faster, and more athletic. The OKC Thunder are built for space and pace basketball. Everyone on their roster can take and make 3 pointers, and bring the ball up the court to initiate the offense. The true embarrassment for the Bulls wasn’t that they lost, that was a foregone conclusion, it was, and is, in the archaic understanding and strategy the Front Office and coaching staff has employed while building and running this team.
As talented as the Chicago Bulls players are, the team as a whole is not good enough to win a significant amount of games in the contemporary NBA. Each Bulls player on the roster, with the exception of a few young guys, could be a contributor on a contending team, but together they just can’t seem to make it work. To me that’s an indictment of the Front Office and coaching staff.
Billy Donovan has had 3 seasons to figure out how to take three All-Stars and get them to win together. He has failed. Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley have had 3 seasons to figure out that the All-Star pieces they’ve put together gel like oil and water. They have failed. And ultimately, the failure of leadership at the highest levels of the organization will lead to the team failing to make the playoffs.
It’s hard to blame Zach LaVine for being Zach LaVine, or Vucevic for being Vucevic, and DeMar for being DeMar. These players are known. Their game is known. Their strengths, skills, tendencies, weaknesses, blind spots, and ambitions are known. If you can’t meld what is known into a serviceable team, then I question the creativity, judgement, and effective communication of Karnisovas, Eversley, and Donovan.
You could blow up the team and try to start fresh with a different roster. Maybe new players will listen to Donovan. Maybe a different set of egos leading the team would mesh cohesively, and a true sense of togetherness would positively impact winning. But if the Front Office and coaching staff can’t learn and grow from their own mistakes it’s hard to see that happening.
7 Observations From Opening Night
- Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, OKC’s go to guy, was the best player on the court. He scored a breezy 30+ points on the Bulls and dished out 9 assists, getting his entire team involved. He took over the 4th quarter and manufactured the 20 point blowout.
- Andre Drummond loves playing basketball and schooling rookies. Drummond was one of the bright spots for the Bulls last night.
- Patrick Williams has truly improved nearly every facet of his game, but he still doesn’t know how to use his skills to impact a game.
- DeMar DeRozan might be washed.
- The Thunder have an entire roster of young guys that can hit 3 pointers… because that’s how you play basketball now.
- The Bulls are not properly physically conditioned to play high pace basketball for an entire game. Bulls players looked tired and out of breath from about midway through the 3rd quarter to the conclusion of the game, and that’s exactly when the Thunder began building their insurmountable lead.
- Bulls players held a “players only” meeting after the game, and many fans fell into the trap of asking “How can you do that after the 1st game of the season?” But in reality, this is the 1st game of season number 3. The core of this Bulls team has been together for a while now, and they appear to be as sick of the same old shit as we fans are. I’m not expecting this closed doors discussion to do much for the win-loss record, but who knows? They do have a talented roster, maybe a little discomfort will light a spark and get them motivated to play together for something.
Until they do, thanks for reading, thanks for subscribing, and GO BULLS!
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