The Bulls started their
season a god-awful 3-20. Then, Nikola
Mirotic—he of the punch in the face from Bobby Portis—returned to the lineup
and started guaranteeing victories. That
actually worked seven straight times, until a two-game losing streak courtesy
of visits to Cleveland and Boston.
This is where you’d
expect the Bulls to go back to tanking-mode.
A sure sign of a mediocre or worse team is giving back at least half the
wins following a streak. Never in my
memory of any sport has a team followed a ten-game losing streak with a
seven-game winning streak. Oh, and this
one rebounded from their two losses with two straight wins and counting. The Bulls are now tied for seventh-worst
record in the NBA at 12-22. So, what’s
going on?
Some form of weirdness,
for sure. A front office that last year
thought adding Dwayne Wade and Rajon Rondo was a good idea turns around and
looks to have executed a promising rebuild, all in one season. Gone are Wade and Rondo as well as Isaiah
Canaan, Michael Carter-Williams and Anthony Morrow, replaced by the likes of
Kris Dunn, Lauri “the big Finn” Markkanen and David Nwaba. Throw in a few holdovers from last season,
including Jerian Grant and Paul Zipser, count down the days for the debut of
guard Zach LaVine (acquired with Dunn and Markkanen for Jimmy Butler), and all
of a sudden you have a team with depth.
It’s like GM Gar Forman and his boss John Paxson found a stash of smart
pills, that or they did right by bringing in former Bulls’ coach Doug Collins as
a senior advisor. Either way, watching
Bulls’ basketball in December has been a lot of fun.
And interesting. This week in a game against the Bucks, I
caught Mirotic and Portis laughing and talking to one another, if only on the
court. I also saw coach Fred Hoiberg on
the sideline yelling at his players and motioning them to hustle down court,
which is part of his run-and-shoot offense.
For the first time in three years, Hoiberg actually has a roster reflective
of his philosophy. What took so
long? That’s a question for the
ages. Will it last? We’ll see in the weeks ahead. One move by Hoiberg hardly anyone has
commented on is his going stretches without a center. It’s either three guards and two forwards or
vice versa, all depending on how you count Mirotic. With Markkanen a seven-foot forward, you can
get away with that. Better yet, it’s
working.
And, what of the
rebuild? Personally, I hate that term when
it’s applied to any sport other than baseball.
A rebuild implies multiple seasons of losing so a team can draft talent
and develop it. But you don’t develop
talent in the NBA and NFL like you do in baseball. There are no real minor leagues for the other
sports. The NBA developmental league
doesn’t really count because night after night everyone is trying to shoot
lights-out; they’re not working to improve their skill set to become better
passers, rebounders or shot-blockers. In
the NBA a first-round pick basically is expected to step in and perform from
the start, at the very worst as the first guy off the bench. Anything less and the prospect turns suspect by
the start of his second season. It’s not
fair, but that’s how the game is played.
All of a sudden, the Bulls
have drafted and traded right. They
really don’t need to trade Justin Holiday and Robin Lopez, the elder statesmen
on the team at 28 and 29, respectively.
Forget the “rebuild” manual; it hardly ever works in basketball. Instead, enjoy the run, hope that it
continues, and cross your fingers the front-office dysfunction is past.
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