In that cold, bloodless
way that rules over all professional sports, the Bulls have decided to sit two
of their best, if not the best, players on the team. No, center Robin Lopez and forward Justin
Holiday did not break any team rules or engage in fisticuffs a la
Portis-Mirotic. Their collective sin is,
simply, being veterans.
The Bulls’ front office
announced after the All-Star break last weekend that the team wanted to look
long and hard at other young players beyond their core of Kris Dunn, Zach
LaVine and Lauri Markkanen. Anyone with
a spark stays, the rest get thrown overboard to make room for two #1 draft
picks that should be pretty high now that winning has been taken off the table
for the rest of the year. So sorry,
Robin and Justin, but please take a seat as we do our evaluations. And, if you’re good, we’ll either bring you
back next year or trade you in the off-season.
Whatever.
To their credit, Lopez
and Holiday have sucked it up and gone along with the program, which is kind of
ironic. Had they gone ballistic, thrown
a chair or issued an ultimatum, they’d be playing right now, somewhere if not
in Chicago. So, hats off to these guys for
showing a bit grace under pressure.
Bulls’ management may not particularly care or appreciate it, but I do.
I have to wonder,
though. If they’re going to treat the
rest of the season like training camp, shouldn’t they roll back prices? That would be the classy thing to do, no?
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