Anger is mounting and patience is dwindling for the Chicago Bulls and shooting guard Zach LaVine after the 40th loss of the season, against the Knicks.
The point at which the Chicago Bulls are at now is a new low after falling short against the New York Knicks on the road at Madison Square Garden by the final score of 125-115 on Feb. 29. The Bulls moved their record to an increasingly poor 20-40 on the season so far. And the schedule doesn’t get any easier heading into the month of March. Four of the next six teams the Bulls face are currently in playoff position. And four of those games also come away from the United Center.
Since the All-Star Break, the Bulls have only won one game. That stretch included that loss to the Knicks as well as the Phoenix Suns and Charlotte Hornets. There was a very small glimmer of hope that the Bulls could move back into the back end of the playoff race if they got off on the right foot out of NBA All-Star Weekend. But that didn’t happen, so they now sit more than seven games behind the Orlando Magic for the eighth seed in the Eastern Conference standings.
With frustrations mounting for both the players and the Bulls fan base, things have to change heading into the offseason. This will be a rather long offseason for the Bulls to actually turn their fortunes around ahead of what will be the fourth year of the rebuild. It should not have taken this long for John Paxson and Gar Forman to get this rebuild going in the right direction.
On March 1, Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic got Bulls shooting guard Zach LaVine to open up on the team’s struggles and where they are at now compared to what preseason expectations held for them . Here’s what LaVine had to say on the matter.
"“There’s a lot of different factors, man,” he said. “I don’t think some people played up to par. I don’t think we did the right things, game to game. We fight, but we obviously don’t get the end result that we need. So something’s got to change. You’ve got to do something to get those wins and stop stockpiling (those) losses. I think there’s a lot of things that you’ve got to take into consideration and you’ve got to look at in the offseason.”"
Next up for LaVine and the Bulls is a matchup against the Dallas Mavericks and the star duo of guard Luka Doncic and forward Kristaps Porzingis. That will be difficult for head coach Jim Boylen to inspire any level of confidence team before then. This losing streak the Bulls are building once again could stretch pretty far unless something changes soon.
At least the Bulls do look to be getting healthier by now. Center Wendell Carter Jr. returned to the starting five in that loss to the Knicks after recovering from a sprained ankle. Small forward Otto Porter Jr. is back at practice now and could be the next to return to the Bulls starting five. OPJ is working his way back from a foot fracture and ankle injury.