The Chicago Bulls Have No Answers When Shots Aren’t Falling

There are going to be games when shots don’t fall over the course of a season. It’s at those times the Chicago Bulls must play complimentary basketball.

Following their fourth-straight loss, the Chicago Bulls are searching for answers. The big trade for Nikola Vucevic hasn’t had the results they’d hoped and the biggest hindrance (practice time) isn’t getting better any time soon. One thought was running the offense more through Vucevic but he had 16 points in the first half and 29 for the game.

Not Always On Time

Zach LaVine has been the focal point of the Bulls offense for the past few seasons. The acquisition of Vucevic was supposed to make things easier for him but he seems to be struggling to find his perfect aggression level. We’ve seen him be aggressive early but become passive or force bad shots in the second half.

Like in his 50 point game when he had 39 at halftime.

Against the Magic, he had nine points (on 3-of-9 shooting) up until just under 10 minutes were left in the game. Sure, his 21-point fourth quarter and game-high 30 points look nice. But it followed a third quarter in which he didn’t attempt a shot.

There is no scenario in which Zach LaVine should not take at least four attempts. Period. This is not excusing any of the poor decisions he makes late in games, many of which lead to turnovers. But, perhaps, consistent involvement would keep games from getting into situations that lead to him having to make clutch decisions.

And no, calling him out for the mistakes despite all the good he does isn’t unfair. It’s par for the course when you want to be recognized among the best in the game as LaVine himself says he wants to be. Earning his first All-Star selection was big but it brings with it a much deeper level of scrutiny.

Un-Supporting Cast

Yes, the top dogs always bear the heaviest burden. That doesn’t excuse horrible bench production. They’re 21st in bench production since the trade deadline, and over the past four games, Lauri Markkanen and Coby White have averaged 12.3 points per combined.

Both are shooting just 35 percent from the floor and, while Markkanen is shooting 40 percent from outside, he’s attempting just over four shots per game and has never offered much on the glass. White has been abysmal from deep, hitting threes at just a 14.3 percent clip during this skid. These are the guys this team was relying on in major roles.

We talked before the deadline about the roster being on two different timelines. Well, there are still remnants of the “developmental” path that don’t jibe with the rest.

Maybe hearing that they weren’t going to be focal points has psyched out Markkanen and White. But then again, wouldn’t that just reinforce the need to move them out and get players in who are ready to take on the roles being asked on a team that should have playoff aspirations just off of talent alone.

This isn’t to pile on the young guys either. Again, they have been back and forth between starting and bench duty (heck, they flat-out tried to trade Lauri). But both of their best traits are supposed to be their scoring. Simplified roles should make things easier but instead, both players have gone into a shell.

Know Better, Do Better

The vets don’t get off the hook. During this most recent slide, Thaddeus Young has seen his usage fall. It was to be expected to some degree with the addition of talent. But he was the Bulls second-best player for the bulk of the season. He’s capable of being that on any given night and should be the third option on this team.

You might have noticed Patrick Williams was missing from the section about the young guys. That’s because, as a 19-year-old rookie, whatever is holding him back at this point falls on the coach to overcome.

For Williams, that’s aggressiveness. Against Orlando, he had three shot attempts in the first quarter but finished with just four for the game and had none in the second half.

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As we’ve written, the Bulls have to find other ways to overcome the lack of a floor general to run the offense. And much of that responsibility falls on Billy Donovan. Whether he has to get on Williams, design plays for him, whatever. If they think he’s going to be here long-term, they have to keep him involved.

This brings up the thoughts on Donovan before he was hired. The thought was he could bring respectability back but could struggle to get them over the hump. That appears to be the case as he says all the right things to the media but we have yet to see the lineup or schematic adjustments to keep up with opponents.

Decided on the Court

The problem is you can’t blame Donovan either. He can’t make shots for guys or keep them from making careless passes that become giveaways. At some point, they have to show a sense of pride (oh no, this is starting to sound like a Jim Boylen apology piece). Defense truly is largely about effort and the Bulls aren’t giving much if any.

How much can you motivate a professional athlete if getting flamed by bottom-feeders isn’t enough? We gave them a pass against Atlanta because the Hawks got healthy at the last second. Against Minnesota, it was about Karl-Anthony Towns and D’Angelo Russell.

Memphis was problematic because of how it happened; with the Bulls getting doubled-up in the fourth quarter to blow a lead and lose by double-digits.

But this game against Orlando is a brutal wake-up call. IT wasn’t about schemes. It wasn’t about talent. As Will Perdue said in the postgame, how many of the guys the Magic played would you consider to be actual NBA starters? No, this is about effort. And when you give subpar effort, you get subpar results.

No one wants to hear about practice time. Plenty of teams have been able to integrate their new pieces without this kind of struggle. They want to see results. And right now you have an offense that isn’t clicking and a team that doesn’t play complimentary basketball in any way.

When their shots aren’t falling, they have no other plan of attack.