The Bulls are out to a rough start at 6-14 and Rob Schaefer of NBC Sports Chicago argues that Wendell Carter Jr. has been the only player to make the team better on both ends of the court. Chicago is better on both offense and defense in terms of net rating with WCJ on the floor and the team should utilize him more, Schaefer contends.
Here’s more from Chicago:
- The Zach LaVine–Lauri Markkanen pairing simply hasn’t meshed this season, Schaefer writes in the same piece. Both players have had peaks and valleys in their season with neither catching fire together and the Bulls have been outscored by 7.5 points per possession when the duo shares the floor.
- Sam Smith of NBA.com wonders if the Bulls can still make the playoffs. The scribe breaks down the field in the East and believes that Chicago can still make a run at the eighth seed in the conference.
- Otto Porter Jr. (foot injury) is approaching the two-week mark of his originally estimated four-week absence. The wing said he feels better but there is still no exact timetable for this return, as K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Tribune relays (Twitter link).
Anybody who is surprised that the Bulls are a complete mess is obviously delusional. Hiring Boylen was just another tragic mistake by Paxson and Foreman, who should of been fired for their miserable performance years ago. The only question left is whether whichever Reinsdorf is running this freight train to disaster has the guts to eat some dough and fire the whole front office.
Before the next lottery pick is made, you need a coach and GM who will draw a FA and make the right pick next year. No FA worth a darn is ever coming here to play for this comedy show. Pro Hoops is dead to me until these clowns are all gone. Boylen is in the first year of a 3 year deal, and the players are already laying down and not hustling. Once great franchise dying a slow painful death. Not watching anymore.
Jordan got them 6 rings. Gotta take the bad with the good Chicago.
I knew it.bulls still same bad team like last season.only made a few upgrade.. play off..?? No way.. trade zach and lauri. Both are soft player who cant play defense. We need great defender like jrue holiday
I really wish people in this day and age would quit using “should of” in place of “should have”. It’s wrong and it makes the user look ignorant.
So does correcting people’s grammar online. Maybe get a part-time job teaching high school English?
Agreed. I’m a die-hard Bulls fan, but I’ve reached a breaking point/my limit. I’m done until the front office is gutted and we get a real coach. Only then will we be able to attract REAL talent. Not C grade consolation prizes and D grade outright garbage. No more money from me. I’m done.
The Front Office has zero ability to identify talent. There isn’t a single player on this roster that would start on a Championship contending team. None! And to read articles about how disappointed the F.O. is in the lack of success is baffling to me.
Lavine is a bench player for a good team, he is being sold to us bulls fans as some sort of superstar, he is awful, can’t play defense in any sense of the word, the bulls had Michael Jordan when I was growing up, I’ve witnessed real greatness…what this front office and ownership group have allowed this team to become is shameful and embarrassing, garpax should’ve been fired years ago, any self respecting/fan respecting owner would demand more, please stop goin to games stop buying apparel stop keeping them relevant in any way until we have an owner who cares about anything other than his friends having jobs in his organization, they truly are the despicabulls
Have you watch lauri play defense you are yaking about lavine not playing defense but Lauri is getting toasted nightly maybe you should watch the games to see that
I agree. Anything good he does on the offensive end is negated on the defensive end. That not a star player. That’s a 6th man who comes in when you need a surge of offense.
Sam Smith has long ago lost his “independent” status and like KC Johnson, is now just a mouthpiece for this terrible front office. It is true that the only two-way player they have is WCJ.
However, as noted in another article here, having Otto Porter out is hurting the team badly, and highlights the unfortunate lack of depth in big wings. The 3-guard rotation made up of misfit toys that Boylen is sticking with is a pointless endeavor, he might as well give Fatboy Felicio some exercise at the wing, at least he would lose some weight chasing forwards up and down the court, and would not be any more overmatched than the little guards.
Kris Dunn is being encouraged to shoot 3s, which is ridiculous, at this point no one is going to come out to cover him beyond the arc; just use him as a late-game defensive replacement and call it a day.
Boylen is an idiot. He talks about “our offensive team” and “our defensive team” like this is football. He has no idea how to form useful rotations, and is currently employing a 10-man rotation on a team that is not that deep. This far into the season he knows what he has, and he needs to start allowing the players to form some partnerships on the court instead of hoping for some magic wand to turn Ryan Arcidiacono into John Stockton.
Instead, Boylen is grasping at straws because he is trying to prove the front office’s claim that this is a well-constructed and talented roster worthy of competing in the NBA. It is clearly not.
Even my high hopes for Coby White, who is very fast and has an easy shot, have been dashed by the way Boylen marches the team up the court and has them run plays into traffic because they cannot trust anyone to make an outside shot. Hey guess what, no one can dunk either, including ‘superstar’ Lauri.
I was in New York recently and was comforted by the thought that at least we are not the Knicks. That is a pretty sad consolation prize.
It is also clear evidence of mismanagement that 2 years after the “3 alphas” experiment was foisted upon dung-for-brains Hoiberg, and he was fired for having “lost the team”, mush-for-brains Boylen is being put in the same situation.
The last time the Bulls were competitive was when a real coach was in charge, and he unfortunately had to repeatedly take veteran journeymen guards and make them appear to be stars, which their agents parlayed into big contracts elsewhere. The Bulls fired him when he told management the truth about their roster and their flaws.
I used to be a season ticket holder. Now I barely watch the games on TV if I am at a sports bar. The ticket office keeps calling me with “limited time” ticket offers and the price keeps going down, so maybe the Reinsdorfs will listen to the only thing that matters to them, losing money.