That’s right, the NBA In-Season Tournament (what a lousy name) started last Friday, with group play running throughout November. The Chicago Bulls are in a group with the Boston Celtics, Orlando Magic, Brooklyn Nets, and maybe another team? I don’t remember and I’m not about to look it up. But the prize at the end of it all is nothing less than the coveted NBA Cup (whatever that is).
I’d say that I’m trying to be positive and upbeat about this tournament, but I’m too old and cynical to see this as anything other than a money grab by the league, and yet another opportunity for the Bulls to fail at winning meaningful(?) basketball. This tournament will only be popular if the players buy into it, and compete like it’s a real thing. If we see the energy from the teams, I think the fans will follow. Until that happens, I’ll wallow in my cynicism.
Speaking of cynicism, as a Bulls fan, it’s hard to get excited about anything basketball related. The Bulls are currently 2-5 on the season (0-1 in the Tournament), and are on a 3 game losing streak. They are playing the exact same basketball we’ve seen for the past three seasons, with the caveat that they are shooting more 3 pointers, but the end results are the same. This is a less than dynamic team that plays at a below .500 clip. Something has got to change.
The quickest ways of changing this team would be to fire Billy Donovan, and/or, trade one of the Mid Three. Zach LaVine is the obvious trade chip, he’s young, productive, and under a reasonable contract, plus he has already garnered interest from a number of teams. DeMar DeRozan is also a trade candidate, he could be a late season “rental” for a contending team, as he is on an expiring contract, but I doubt that trade happens now.
Trading Nikola Vucevic will be harder. He’s an older player who was just given a new contract. It’s an expensive contract too, considering he didn’t seem to have many suitors during free agency. The fact that not many teams were interested in him this summer leaves me wondering if anybody is interested in him now. I’m guessing no.
Firing Donovan midseason probably means the Bulls would play with an interim coach for most, if not all, of the season. While there are some fine coaching candidates on the Bulls bench, I’m not sure any of them will have any more success (or lack there of) than Billy has had. While Donovan is a good coach, he has some obvious deficiencies when it comes to offense, and he seems to have lost the teams ear (if he ever had it to begin with).
Players have not responded well to Donovan’s coaching style. Whether it’s the complete disregard the team seems to show for the offensive style of play Donovan wants to run, or him not having the correct psychological approach to players like Patrick Williams, Ayo Dosunmu, and Zach LaVine, Billy has failed a lot as a head coach here in Chicago. It doesn’t matter how good of a coach you are, if your players aren’t listening to you, or don’t respect you, you may as well be a fan writing a blog about how bad this team is.
SOME OBSERVATIONS FROM WEEK 3
- Jevon Carter is playing much better after a slow start to the season. His shots are starting to fall, and he looks much more comfortable in the offense.
- The Bulls don’t really have plays ready to run at the end of close games. This was very apparent during their loss to the Dallas Mavericks. The Mavs ended the game with 4 straight made 3 pointers, and the Bulls countered with a 3 attempt by Vucevic, a post up by Vucevic, and then various turnovers and Isolation sets that yielded empty possessions. I don’t even think they tried running a simple rub screen for LaVine to get a wide open 3 attempt. Stupid basketball from a stupid team.
- Torrey Craig has supplanted Patrick Williams in the starting lineup. This was a change that most people saw coming, and a lot of people were clamoring for. Craig has simply been more impactful in games than Williams. It’s rough to see Williams demoted, but until he can figure out how to play meaningful minutes in the NBA, he doesn’t deserve to be in the starting lineup.
So here we are, less than 10 games into the 2023-’24 season, furtively looking around for answers. Significant change should have happened during the offseason. It didn’t. With the prospect of another season of the same-old-same-old stretching before us, Bulls fans are praying for some glimmer of hope that this team will improve.
Until that glimmer appears, thanks for reading, thanks for subscribing, and GO BULLS!
RokDeez Bulls Blog 
You must be logged in to post a comment.