Wow! Just another awful collapse by the Chicago Bulls on St. Patrick’s Day. They started the game strong and were up by 23 in the first half, but a very poor second half and terrible late game execution gave that lead away quickly and the baby Bulls lost another winnable game.
More than half way through the 20-21 season and this team is still a huge question mark.
I am not going to get into numbers this time around, instead I want to focus in on the possible solutions to hopefully stop the habits of throwing away games by this team. At this point in the season I could careless what individual statistics look like. Only winning is important at this point in the season.
I would rather like to see this Bulls team to focus more on finding ways to close out games, rather than the second unit coming in looking to fill up the stat sheet and literally blowing a 20 plus point lead, like they did against the San Antonio Spurs.
This young team shows a lack of care and importance of sticking to what got you that lead to begin with.
Those numbers mean nothing on a losing team with more questions than answers to this point. Every player needs to be held accountable for mistakes and if I were coach Billy Donovan the accountability would start against the Denver Nuggets on March 19th.
They will not be able to slow down Nikola Jokic anyway so maybe this would be a good game to disperse minutes a little bit differently. Trying different approaches and line-ups has been a successful philosophy so far for the coach.
Our front court deficiencies are not fixable until we trade for an actual center, but moving around some guards in the line-up may help against the Nuggets backcourt.
Donovan tried a three-guard rotation in the second half of the game on March 17 against the Spurs. Hopefully we will never see that rotation again. It was just atrocious and hard to watch. It exposed our already weak defense, and watching that unit play also showed us how much Zach LaVine needs help in the guard spot.
More problems emerging for the Chicago Bulls
Without a second playmaker the Bulls will not have a strong second half ending. The season will be lost if this type of basketball continues. I am just dumb founded on how our supposed core in Coby White and Wendell Carter Jr. are not able to dominate coming off the bench against opposing teams second units and less talented players.
An even bigger question mark is how they were even considered starters to begin with. They both still look confused and often play out of the offensive flow of the game. I don’t even think it’s underachieving I just think its solely because this line-up doesn’t fit together very well. Coby is not our future point guard. That is as clear as day!
Along with Coby, WCJ just isn’t enough, they are both holding the Bulls back. When we drafted both these players I expected a much higher ceiling. In realizing that their ceilings aren’t as high as the Bulls expected I expect at least one of them gone by the trade deadline.
Not to mention that some of our core is turning out to not be a core piece after all. As much as I like him Lauri Markkanen is another piece I feel is underachieving. With his size and skill my hope was he could be more of an inside threat than just a seven-foot jump shooter who can dribble. Those handles mean nothing standing at the three-point line all game.
So, I have said it, the Chicago Bulls need to trade the likes of WCJ, White, and Markkanen for us to get to where we need to be.
BLOW IT UP! Trading these three players could bring us not only the playmaking point guard of the future but also could bring us that dominate center we so desperately need.
There is no way we can be any worse than we already are by trading any of them. We are losing more than winning with them in our line-up to date. It is not the coaching staff I promise you that. All three of them have had plenty of opportunities to show what they can do.
This is a team sport and until the Bulls can start to build a winning culture together, they need to first learn how to close out a game as a unit. Most importantly this young team needs to develop more urgency and realize that every game is important. Playing as a team should not have to be taught at the NBA level.
The core intact is just not good enough. It has not worked and they do not play well together, and it shows every night. Take LaVine off this team and the Bulls would be the worst team in the NBA.
FACTS!
Casualties will have to happen for the better of the future but most importantly for the win now
Most of this core has been together long enough, and we have seen plenty. Just blow it up or we will suffer another year of a rebuild next season. The time is now to become the team making the most moves before the deadline. Whether buying or selling a change is needed and it needs to happen fast.
All it will take is a few more losses and the play in tournament will become a long shot. Give LaVine and the Bulls fan base what we have been asking for, because loosing more than we win is getting old already.
The old regime of Gar/Pax and Jim Boylen have already showed us how to lose, that’s why they all got fired. Please remind Bulls fans why we hired Arturas Karnisovas and head coach Billy Donovan because as of right now nothing has changed in this origination, we are still losing and the loses are bad ones.
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