Life without Chicago Bulls basketball: Day 8 thoughts

Now that we’re more than one full week into the NBA hiatus, what is going on with the Chicago Bulls in their news cycle on March 19?

A more active news cycle later in the day on March 18 and all day on Thursday made for more to pay attention to for Chicago Bulls fans. There wasn’t any positive testing for the novel coronavirus that came out of the Bulls camp. But there were a number of other NBA teams that had COVID-19 tests announced on March 19.

Now that we are in the midst of day eight of the NBA’s 2019-20 season hiatus, it seems like we’ve been going at this battle with COVID-19 for more than a month now. While in fact the NBA just placed its season on hold on March 11, once Utah Jazz center Rudy Gobert tested positive for COVID-19. Since then, a number of NBA players have tested positive.

More tests continue to be made public too. But hopefully this is the front end of a short wave of COVID-19 positive tests domestically. Good news is much needed at the moment, as much of the country sits in self-isolation or near complete lockdown. That includes the city of Chicago.

After a long news cycle on March 19, let’s take a look into what’s happening for the Bulls and around the NBA in general.

What’s happening around the NBA, and with the Bulls

Continuous flashbacks for current and former players

On March 18, NBC Sports Chicago continued to air the 1996 title season for the Bulls that included the return of all-time great shooting guard Michael Jordan. That is one of the great seasons in NBA history, and deserves this type of commemoration. It brings back the more positive memories that Bulls fans can channel, especially among those that actually watched the dynasty teams throughout the 1990’s.

The Bulls official Twitter page also released a fun throwback video to watch if you’re bored. It featured shooting guard Zach LaVine in a montage dunk between his time in a UCLA Bruins uniform with his time in the Windy City.

More Bulls front office discussion

According to a report from K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago on March 19, he mentioned a few interesting tidbits around the Bulls potential front office shakeups ahead in the looming offseason. He stated that “with the league ground to a halt, this could be an opportunity for Michael Reinsdorf”.

Positive COVID-19 tests pour in for NBA players

According to a report from Shams Charania of The Athletic on March 19, the Boston Celtics point guard Marcus Smart tested positive for COVID-19. He is the first Celtics player that was announced to have tested positive.

A video that Smart posted on his own Twitter timeline on March 19 showed that he seems to be doing well with the symptoms.

Moreover, the Los Angeles Lakers released an official statement on March 19 that two of their players tested positive for COVID-19. But the release didn’t mention which of the players had tested positive.

Smart and those two Lakers players now join a list of others around the NBA that tested positive for COVID-19 which also includes Brooklyn Nets forward Kevin Durant (among three other teammates), Detroit Pistons forward Christian Wood, Jazz guard Donovan Mitchell, and Gobert. With all the teams around the NBA seemingly running COVID-19 tests this week, there could be more announcements looming.

On March 19, if the NBA regular season schedule were to still be up and running, the Bulls would be preparing to face the San Antonio Spurs to kickoff a Texas road trip. The Bulls would be one day off a home game against the Miami Heat and would be playing the Spurs and Houston Rockets in back-to-back road games this weekend.