Bulls-Magic IV: Three Takeaways

The Chicago Bulls completed their season sweep of the tank-tastic Orlando Magic.

It’s strange to be so disappointed when your team wins a game. But that’s where we are now, folks. Cristiano Felicio, Lauri Markkanen and Sean Kilpatrick collaborated to eke out a Chicago Bulls defeat of the Orlando Magic in their final Amway Center visit of the season. The final tally was 90-82.

Felicio, starting for Robin Lopez, had an insane 16 rebounds in 27 minutes against an undersized Magic squad. Markkanen had a solid 13 points, eight boards, and one devastating dunk. Chicago has beaten Orlando in all four of their match-ups this season. This pointless victory could cost the Hoibulls a shot at a top five draft pick.

Orlando falls to 22-53 with the loss, the fourth-worst record in the league at present. With the victory, Chicago rises to a 25-51 record. That gives Chicago the eighth-worst record in the NBA. Dallas, Sacramento, and Brooklyn are all maximally two games better by record. Chicago needs to stop winning meaningless games!

Both clubs sat as many players as they possibly could, in shameless tanking efforts. Kris Dunn remains out with his lingering toe injury. Zach LaVine missed the contest with that nagging knee tendinitis. If these games actually mattered, odds are decent that both players would be suiting up. Robin Lopez, healthy and in uniform, did not play a single second last night. Despite their best efforts, Chicago still won handily, having led most of the night.

Chicago could not hold a tanking candle to Frank Vogel’s Orlando Magic. The Magic put on a clinic in resting players.  Orlando has shut down guards Terrence Ross and Evan Fournier for the rest of the season with “knee injuries.”

The next-best wing, Jonathan Simmons, did not suit up due to a supposed wrist injury. Rookie Jonathan Isaac logged just 21 minutes on a time restriction. Former Warriors power forward Marreese Speights pulled a Robin Lopez and did not play.

Here are today’s three takeaways, this time in the form of pertinent questions.

Is Sean Kilpatrick any good?

New hire Kilpatrick, formerly of the Nets, scored 13 points off the bench in 13 minutes. The majority of his offense, though, was achieved in free throw shooting. Kilpatrick made seven of his eight attempts from the charity stripe. The wing converted just two of eight three-ball attempts, and took and missed three other field goals from within the arc. He outplayed Justin Holiday and David Nwaba in this game.

Kilpatrick has looked okay for the Bulls in his three outings. Despite shooting a miserable 29.6% from the field, Kilpatrick is averaging 10 points. He is getting to the line 4.3 times a night, and knocking down 84.6% of those looks. Those are Butler-esque free throw numbers. The rest of his game has been messy. It’s hard to get a clear picture of his abilities, though, in the murk of this epic Bulls tank.

What will become of Aaron Gordon? 

The hyper-athletic Magic small forward will be a restricted free agent this summer. Against the apathetic defense of Justin Holiday and Denzel Valentine, Gordon made just six of 21 field goal attempts en route to 18 points in 37 minutes. He converted five of six free throws. He had seven rebounds. This all came against a team that was actively trying to lose to his squad. Gordon has been disengaged after a hot start with Orlando this fall. Perhaps some of his erosion can be ascribed to distress in the wake of the Magic’s awful season.

It’s hard to see Gordon wanting Orlando to match an offer from a rival squad this summer. Gordon is the only thing on this desolate team that could conceivably become a blue-chip player. The Magic will be motivated to match. Will he ever reach his potential as a three-and-D wing? Not on the Magic.

Will Chicago draft a better player than Orlando this summer? 

Despite the fact that it looks increasingly more likely Chicago will wind up with a lower pick in the draft, Orlando has made some questionable draft decisions lately. I know I rip on GarPax a lot. And, to their credit, they totally deserve it. That said, their Lauri Markkanen pick-up was great. Markkanen has looked like the third- or fourth-best pick in a loaded rookie class, not the seventh-best.

2015 draft pick Bobby Portis and 2016 draft pick Denzel Valentine have slowly become competent bench cogs this year. I’m not a big fan of either player, but they definitely have trade value and look like NBA players. Considering where they were picked, that grades out to a win for Chicago. Orlando has drafted two good players since 2013, and has already traded one of them. The rest of their picks (all in the lottery) have been grisly. Say what you will about the Chicago Bulls of recent vintage, but at least they’re not the Orlando Magic.