The Conundrum of the Chicago Bulls

16 days ago, the Chicago Bulls were looking like a team on the rise after defeating the Boston Celtics at home for their sixth consecutive victory. After Friday loss in Boston — their sixth in the last eight games — the Bulls look a team without a solution to their problem.

When you watch the Chicago Bulls at their current juncture of this season, they might remind you of a car bumper that’s been held on by pounds upon pounds of tape.

Sure, the tape will do the job for a while and you won’t have to worry about causing a crash similar to the one seen in Final Destination 2, but the fact is you have a problem.

With the aforementioned bumper, you have a couple solutions: Buy a new car or take it into a garage/local shop and pay the price of a newer used car to get it fixed.

The Bulls went the way of taking the bumper into the garage by hiring former Iowa State head coach Fred Hoiberg and kept the same exact roster as the season before.

Through 42 games in Hoiberg’s rookie season in Chicago, the results are still the same as if Tom Thibodeau had never left town and now their engine is on the cusp of blowing up.

No, I’m not liking Derrick Rose and Jimmy Butler to an engine on its last legs. Those two haven’t been the issue as of late for the Bulls. (Imagine that. Two guys that supposedly didn’t get along, aren’t the problem!)

The point is that the Bulls thought a quick fix of a new head coach would put all their previous problems deep into the past. That hasn’t happened.

The Bulls are a mind-boggling team.

When your core is a former MVP point guard, a max contract star on the wing and a two-time NBA Champion, you would expect that team to be able to compete with anyone. And on some nights, the Bulls do that and beat teams that they probably shouldn’t (see the Cleveland, San Antonio and Oklahoma City wins this season).

They’ve lost six of their last eight games and now six 6.5 games behind rival Cleveland in the Eastern Conference standings.

Hot take alert: You expect them to, but it almost feels like asking if the Bulls are going to make the playoffs is a legitimate question at this point.

The four teams the Bulls sit ahead of in the current playoff standings: Indiana, Detroit, Boston and Miami. (Old playoff foe Washington sits just 1.5 games behind Miami for the eighth spot in the East.)

There’s plenty of issues with the Bulls. Do they have any answers?

Let’s take a look at some of them:

“Trade Pau Gasol! He’s horrendous defensively!”

OK, this is reasonable.

Gasol has been abominable on the defensive end. There’s plenty of examples to choose from.

Here’s one:

Gasol will be 36 years old next season and has plans to opt-out of his current three-year deal with the Bulls at the end of the season.

“Gasol told CSNChicago.com Wednesday night after his 26-point, 19-rebound, four-block and three-assist performance against the Denver Nuggets that it’s “very likely” he’ll opt-out of his contract this summer and test the market. “As long as I keep playing like this,” Gasol said, via Vincent Goodwill of CSN Chicago.

“I know I’ll have some options.”

More from Bulls News

• The dream starting 5 for the Chicago Bulls 5 years from now
• Bulls’ Ayo Dosunmu inspires the future with new school program
• Chicago Bulls NBA 2K24 full roster ratings, risers, and fallers
• Bulls sign a pair of promising guards to Exhibit 10 contracts
• When does NBA Training Camp start? Dates Bulls fans need to know

An option for the Bulls would be to try and send Gasol elsewhere, but here’s the thing: Joakim Noah is most likely done for the year and in Chicago.

Taj Gibson can’t play 48 minutes every single night, so that means your next two options are Cameron Bairstow and Cristiano Felicio.

Yikes.

You would like to get something for Gasol before he bolts elsewhere possibly, but the Bulls don’t have the assets. (Sorry, Doug McDermott is shooting the ball at a solid rate this season, but he needs about 10 feet of space to get it off.)

Reminder: Mike Dunleavy hasn’t played all season. He might be able to help out a little bit, right?

“Trade Derrick Rose! He’s playing much better and the Bulls could get something back!”

Well, if he wasn’t owed $20 million and $21.3 million between this season and next, you might have something here.

And when I say have something, I mean the city of Chicago would probably break out into riots between the pro-Rose and anti-Rose crowds.

Rose is about as polarizing as when John Cena’s music hits in an arena for an episode of WWE’s Monday Night Raw.

Being the hometown kid, Rose is going to be beloved by many for the rest of his playing days. Plus, he’s actually playing pretty well lately.

In those 60 minutes or so, 29 of those points came against the league’s best player and team (Golden State).

Although his injury past is the biggest eyesore of Rose’s profile, general managers around the league don’t exactly want that kind of salary on their books.

His game might not be “scary” right now, but he’s been one of the few bright spots in a dim time for the Bulls before the All-Star break.

“Trade Tony Snell or Nikola Mirotic!”

Uh, no to Snell.

It’s not because Snell costs too much or anything like Rose, but what exactly do you think the Bulls could get for him? A new jacuzzi in the Advocate Center across the street from United Center?

For Mirotic, he’s in his own head right now and he’s been nothing short of bad for most of the year. He can be a streaky shooter and a valuable weapon, but through a season and a half, what has he really shown the Bulls (or other teams for that matter) that he’s a legit player in this league?

“What about Joakim Noah? Could the Bulls look to trade him?”

Sure, they absolutely could.

Before the shoulder issues, it appeared that Noah was finding his game again after an awful 2014-15 season that followed a “more-than-we-were-told-about” knee surgery after the Bulls were eliminated from the postseason by Washington.

But, not many teams are going to be in search of a soon-to-be 31-year-old free agent to-be coming off a serious shoulder surgery.

If anything, there’s still the slim chance the Bulls could re-sign Noah to a small deal to keep him in Chicago next season. It’s doubtful, but it might be one of the options he has and the Bulls have.

“Trade Bobby Portis or Taj Gibson!”

If you’re wanting to trade Bobby Portis already, please step away from your keyboards for the next 24-48 hours and collect your thoughts.

As for Gibson—the most viable trade chip the Bulls possess—he’s currently in the midst of a team-friendly deal through next season.

But, with Noah’s injury, not only will he assume a bigger role, he’s really the only option the Bulls have as a big on the defensive end.

Friendly reminder: Money and personnel fits matter when you’re trying to move players to other places, folks. Don’t forget that.

I tried to whip up my own solution for the Bulls, but I don’t think it’s something that could come to fruition.

There’s really no panic button to hit for the Bulls.

If there’s was a chance for them to truly compete for a conference title and represent the East in June, the Bulls would be playing much better than they currently have.

But, just like the old 1998 Dodge Intrepid with the bad bumper that you fixed via a new head coach, there’s nothing that can be done to fix what’s going on under the hood.

Next: Derrick Rose Doesn't Deserve Reserve All-Star Spot

At least not this season.