It's Raining, It's Pouring

This is really starting to not look like the Bulls' year.  Granted, we have a whole month-and-a-half of the regular season to play, but most, if not all of it will be without some key faces.  While injuries have been nagging the club all year, we now have multiple players missing extended time rather than just Mike Dunleavy earlier on.

We all know about Derrick Rose's injury, but since that went down, Taj Gibson has rolled his ankle, forcing him out of action for the time being.  Now, we've learned All-Star Jimmy Butler has suffered a Grade 2/3 ulnar ligament sprain and small bone impaction injury in his left elbow.  He suffered it in Sunday's loss to the Clippers and will miss 3-6 weeks.

It's already been a bad week for Chicago sports with additional injuries to Patrick Kane and Chris Sale, not to mention Minnie Minoso's death.  But the Bulls have arguably been the most snakebitten.  Never mind holding onto that slim lead in the Central or keeping home-court advantage for the first round of the playoffs.  The goal right now is to go a day without someone getting hurt or sick.

This is particularly the wrong month for everything to go wrong.  Washington comes to the United Center Tuesday and Oklahoma City follows Thursday.  Next week, the Bulls have a back-to-back against San Antonio and Memphis.  Later this month, they have to face Toronto twice.

All of this could just be a big bump in the road when all is said and done, but for the moment, it's hard to get excited about March with your starting backcourt possibly slated to miss all of it.  With other key players dropping here and there, even if for only a few games, you're left with a shell of a very good team.  The healthier beasts of the league will pounce on that if they get a chance.

So now, we see a Bulls team forced to grind it out with fewer key players available, just like in the 2013 playoffs.  As memorable as that postseason was for them, Luol Deng's spinal tap and Kirk Hinrich's bruised calf kept them out the entire Miami series.  The result was a team that faltered to superior talent and was possibly fatigued by the tough Brooklyn series in the previous round.  Like it or not, that's what we should expect to see over these next few weeks. 

While this means more starts for Hinrich, Aaron Brooks and possibly Tony Snell, that's hardly a threatening lineup considering what this team is supposed to have.  The 1999 Bulls were kind of like that except many key players were actually gone instead of just injured.  Granted, this year's Bulls have far more talent, but even that area has taken a hit thanks to recent developments.

The other big question is what this means for Tom Thibodeau's relationship with the front office.  Gar Forman and John Paxson arguably have more of a case to put their coach on the hot seat.  For all we know, Thibodeau is completely innocent of everything that's gone wrong of late, but certain employers can and will use any excuse to show somebody the door.  If these players don't recover in time to make a deep playoff run, that could be it for Thibs.

It's funny how we've spent all season talking about how deep these Bulls are.  Perhaps, we needed to take into account what would happen if multiple key guys, not just Rose or someone else, were lost for an extended period.  The answer to that remains to be seen, but it's sure hard to stay optimistic under these circumstances.

All that can be said is put away the championship celebration plans and get out the first aid kits.  That need is far more pressing and hopefully, they can work enough wonders to put everything back on the right track.  With luck, everyone will return at the earliest possible time and can make just the right push to get to the Finals.  Still, luck, talent and health remain the keys to a title and right now, the Bulls are lacking in at least two of those areas.