NBA acted late for the Bulls, but finally pulled the trigger to postpone

The news finally came down on the afternoon of Dec. 13 that the Chicago Bulls will have their next two games postponed this week. The Bulls now have a double-digit number of players that are absent due to the league’s health and safety protocol. This team essentially was getting at least one new player entering the health and safety protocol every day.

A report from ESPN NBA insider Adrian Wojnarowski came down on Dec. 13 that the Bulls will now not be playing a game at least until Dec. 19 against the Los Angeles Lakers. The next two games up for the Bulls were supposed to come against the Detroit Pistons on Dec. 14 and the Toronto Raptors on Dec. 16.

The Bulls were supposed to face the Pistons at home at the United Center on the night of Dec. 14. And then, the Bulls were set to take on the Raptors on the road on Dec. 16.

What is a shame, though, is the fact that it took the NBA so long to respond to this situation. The discussion was going around on the morning of Dec. 13 that the Bulls had put in the request to have at least their Dec. 14 meeting with the Pistons postponed. But it didn’t look like that was going to transpire after the Bulls nearly had a double-digit number of players in the health and safety protocol.

Woj reported on Dec. 13 that the “Chicago Department of Public Health had concerns about the Bulls continuing to play this week”. Essentially the Chicago Department of Public Health needed to play a role for the NBA to take this more seriously ahead of the Dec. 14 meeting with the Pistons at the United Center.

There was clearly an outbreak of COVID-19 going on around the Bulls locker room right now. In the last two days alone, the Bulls had star shooting guard Zach LaVine, shooting guard/small forward Troy Brown Jr., and power forward Alize Johnson enter the health and safety protocol. There were new signings for Chicago that were entering the health and safety protocol essentially before they had even played in a game for this team in Stanley Johnson.

Chicago Bulls finally get the call to postpone games from the NBA on Dec. 13

I know what a lot of fans of various NBA teams are going to say about a discussion like this. The Bulls are catching a break with the NBA postponing these two games in the midst of more than half of the rotation missing while they didn’t take that action last season when the Philadelphia 76ers were missing so many pieces.

But the fact of the matter is that the Bulls are now up to a double-digit number of players in the health and safety protocol. That number never reached that level for the Sixers last season. Granted, it would be good to see the NBA take more decisive action in both situations.

The difference here this season is that this is a situation that the NBA should now be more ready to deal with. We are getting close to two years in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic. And the league that pioneered a system of forming a bubble to finish out a season in the midst of the pandemic last year should know how to deal with a situation like the one the Bulls are going through right now in a timely and effective manner.

It shouldn’t take the Bulls pushing the envelope this much with the league, and losing another player to the health and safety protocol, to even get the NBA administration to budge. Not to mention the fact that the Chicago Department of Public Health had to jump into this conversation.

By the time that Bulls are set to return to play on Dec. 19 against the Lakers at home at the United Center, there are four players that could be back in the rotation. That includes the likes of star shooting guard/forward DeMar DeRozan, shooting guard/forward Javonte Green, point guard Coby White, and forward Derrick Jones Jr.

It’s clear that this decision for the Bulls to have their games postponed until this Dec. 19 meeting with the Lakers makes the most sense. And this is a hurdle that the league could face further, as K.C. Johnson of NBC Sports Chicago detailed in a piece on this matter on Dec. 13.

We’ll see how this situation progresses for the Bulls ahead of what looked to be one of the more manageable stretches of the regular season schedule during the month of December. The Bulls will have to get up and running fast, though, after they get back to game action on Dec. 19.

The Bulls have a set of back-to-back games facing them right away as they’re set to face the Lakers and Houston Rockets on Dec. 19 and 20. And then they have their third game in four days on Dec. 22 against the Raptors at home.