December in Chicago seemed so promising three years ago.
The Bulls were in the second campaign of the Arturas Karnisovas-Billy Donovan regime and began the month with a 14-8 record. It was only months after Lonzo Ball and DeMar DeRozan had joined up with Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic to form what was quickly becoming a promising quartet.
Donovan's team was eighth in offensive rating, fourth in defensive rating, fourth in net rating and in second place in the Eastern Conference standings.
That team peaked on Jan. 7, 2022 with a record of 26-10.
With one significant catalyst, things went off the rails quickly. Chicago finished that season with only five wins in its last 15 games, won one playoff contest and hasn't approached anything close to a contender since.
Although it's the time of season to be jolly, looking back at the last few Decembers is far more of a coal-in-the-stocking kind of gift for Bulls fans rather than the neatly-wrapped-present-under-the-tree type.
The Bulls were one of the NBA's best teams in December 2021
DeRozan, LaVine, Vucevic and Ball, along with the savvy signing of Alex Caruso, had transformed a lottery team the season before into what was looking like a legitimate contender.
Then the Bulls ripped off a 9-2 December that included six straight wins, ending the month on a streak that would stretch to nine. From Dec. 2 to Jan. 7, Chicago went 12-2.
A few nights later, Ball felt his knee jam during a game against the Golden State Warriors. Then it happened again. The team's star point guard was expected to miss some time with what was, at first, thought to be a minor injury.
One thousand and nine days later, Ball returned to the United Center floor but the optimism of December 2021 had long since evaporated.
Chicago has declined into one of the league's worst run franchises
The Bulls backed into the 2022 playoffs but had no chance to take down the Milwaukee Bucks, promptly losing their first-round series in five games.
They entered December 2022 with a 9-12 record; they exited the calendar year 16-20 and finished the season 40-42 before losing to the Miami Heat in the final game of the East Play-In Tournament.
The Bulls were already eight games under .500 on December 1, 2023, and found a way to get worse by getting better. Even without Ball and with LaVine missing most of the season, Chicago clawed its way into the play-in again before losing to the Heat again.
The front office kept DeRozan on an expiring contract and decided against trading any other veterans. The Bulls finally dealt Caruso to the Oklahoma City Thunder in the offseason in a move that netted them Josh Giddey. That looks like another failure already.
Ball's career-changing injury was the stimulant for the franchise's downfall over the last three seasons. But the Bulls' repeated roster-building miscalculations since then only accelerated things to the point that now Chicago can't even succeed at failing.