Whisking the Wizards

The Bulls entered Wednesday's game with the Washington Wizards having lost three of the last four in the match-up.  Derrick Rose becoming a late scratch with right hamstring tendinitis seemingly made an already depleted team an easy underdog.  Fortunately, that message got lost and the Bulls won 109-104.

A two-point halftime lead increased to 10 by the end of the third quarter as the Bulls played with confidence and efficiency.  Although the Wizards made an aggressive push in the fourth, cutting the lead to as little as three, the Bulls battled it off until they put enough distance to hold on.  It proved critical after Washington went on an 8-2 run in the final two minutes.

With Rose and all the others out (I'm too lazy to list everybody), the Bulls took to sharing the offensive wealth.  The result was seven players scoring in double figures, including all five starters.  I guess they figured with no healthy primary scorer, everyone had to chip in.  Boy, was it a good idea.

Taj Gibson and E'Twaun Moore tied for the team high with 17 points.  Tony Snell reached 16 points for the first time since Dec. 14 against Philadelphia.  For the second time in three games, a flu-ridden Pau Gasol came within an assist of a triple-double, this one thanks to 10 points and 15 rebounds.  Doug McDermott had 14 points off the bench, four coming on a pair of thunderous dunks.

Suddenly, the Bulls are looking like the team everyone thinks they can be.  Their three-game winning streak, tied with Toronto for longest in the East, has bumped them back up to sixth in the conference standings.  With most Eastern playoff teams still very close together, this is the time for them to make their move.  They're still just two games in front of ninth-place Detroit, so they can't ease up.

What has driven the shorthanded Bulls to play such inspired basketball lately?  Has Fred Hoiberg getting the whip out and cussing in practice forced them to finally get his message?  In Wednesday's case, were they inspired by next year's new D-League franchise unveiling its Windy City Bulls moniker?  Regardless, it's great to know this team might be clicking at a time when they really need to show who they are.

The Bulls will return to action Friday in a road contest with the Atlanta Hawks.  That's the team that gave them a shellacking in their last game before the All-Star break.  The United Center crowd was forced to endure bad basketball.  Can the Bulls return the favor at Philips Arena?

Nice 90s Night

I purchased tickets for Friday's game against the Toronto Raptors for my cousin and myself not knowing they were celebrating 90s Night.  It was refreshing for someone who grew up in the decade to hear a bunch of its songs and watch videos of players choose between certain fads (Rugrats or Doug, PlayStation or N64, etc.).  C+C Music Factory gave a killer halftime show by belting out Here We Go (Let's Rock & Roll) and Gonna Make You Sweat (Everybody Dance Now).  It was all punctuated by a 116-106 Bulls win, ending their five-game losing streak and my personal two-game skid.

The Bulls trailed by as much as 13 in the first half, so it looked like more of the same old poor play of late was in order.  But four Bobby Portis points in the final 13 seconds before the break brought the team within six and signaled a changing of the guard was coming.  That change indeed happened as the Bulls outscored the Raptors 37-23 in the third quarter, playing with energy and quality they hadn't shown in weeks.  They held off a late Toronto push to remain undefeated against the Atlantic leader for the year.

What to say except Doug McDermott?  In a display I envisioned when the Bulls acquired him on draft day, he scored a career-high 30 points on 13-of-17 shooting from the field, including 4-of-5 from 3-point land.  On 90s Night, he appropriately became the first Bull born in that decade to reach the 30-point mark in a game.  The team and its fans have been waiting for him to blossom into a solid NBA player and this might be just what he needs to kick-start the legitimate portion of his professional career.

Derrick Rose added to his constantly improving season with 26 points and plays in which he dared the Raptors to beat him on the drive.  This is the Rose we've been waiting to return and it's amazing to see he can still pack that punch when you're watching him with your own eyes.  Pau Gasol nearly achieved a triple-double with 18 points, 11 rebounds and nine assists.  He's certainly giving Gar Forman and John Paxson (who was booed during the 90s legends tribute after the first quarter) reason to keep him around.

The Bulls needed to stop the bleeding badly and Toronto was just what the doctor ordered.  They have now won eight straight in the series going back to 2013, which is encouraging when thinking about a potential playoff match-up.  Everything needed to succeed in an NBA game is there for the Bulls during these meetings.  Imagine what could happen if they played with the same fluidity against every team.

Their next game on Sunday will be a bittersweet one as Kobe Bryant enters the United Center as a Los Angeles Laker for the last time.  A future Hall of Famer who was once rumored to be part of a trade to the West Side is sure to give Chicago a proper sendoff by playing as well as his body will still let him.  Maybe 90s Benny can make an appearance to show how long he's been coming here.  After all, a cameo like tonight's just isn't enough (look closely, smack dab in the middle):

Farewell Again, Captain

I really hope you people appreciate what I do for you because sometimes, the stuff I blog about is just baffling.  More of it happened again during Thursday's trade deadline.  While several rumors floated around, most notably the Bulls trading Pau Gasol to Sacramento, they never came to pass.  What did happen was a three-team deal which involved Kirk Hinrich being traded to Atlanta for Justin Holiday, Jrue's younger brother, and a future second-round pick from Utah.

Holiday, known as The Fireman, averaged 2.4 points, one rebound and 0.4 assists over 26 games for Atlanta this season.  In three years, those numbers come to 4.3, 1.2 and 0.8 respectively.  Essentially, he'll replace Hinrich as the guard at the end of the end of the bench.  Don't expect him to see the floor much except in blowouts and necessity due to team injuries.

The move, purely a salary dump, will save the Bulls $3 million, furthering the longtime notion that the organization wants to be as little above the luxury tax as possible ($1.5 million now).  As for Hinrich, he's in the middle of a rather unproductive year, averaging 3.8 points and and 1.7 assists over 35 games.  During his second Bulls tenure, which began in 2012, we've seen him go from starting for Derrick Rose in his lost season to the end of the bench.  That tends to happen to many players when they reach age 35.

There will be time to look back fondly on what Hinrich has done for the Bulls over the years and chances are he'll return as a staffer once he retires.  But people are ridiculing this deal because it means so little to the current group.  Hinrich wasn't exactly wowing people and was borderline lucky to see as much action as he did this season.  Rather than get someone who might be able to help quickly or earn more for the first round of the draft, the Bulls decided to save just a little bit of money and hope to strike gold in some future second round.

The more we see Gar Forman and John Paxson make unremarkable moves such as this one, the less enchanted we become with the organization.  While other teams are trying to stockpile for the future within reason, the Bulls are simply balancing their budget for money that probably won't be used for anything noteworthy.  A role player for next year only, perhaps?  Another undrafted rookie who will see the floor as much as Cristiano Felicio?

On top of that, it's the old practice of refusing to buy or sell high on anybody.  Other than Gasol, not one free agent or trade acquisition as made an impact large enough to push the Bulls to the next level.  And by the time another team gets its hand on a Bull, it only has to send cash or a throwaway draft pick in return.  That's bad business.

I heard someone, I think Marc Silverman, say on the radio yesterday that if the Bulls were his financial adviser, he'd have no money left.  That's how poor they've been in conducting transactions.  They're always praying that their first-round picks will work out and then, they'll keep them around until their value is either gone or high enough that they'll try to justify not trading them.  If Paxson was the CEO of a company, he would have gone bankrupt years ago.

So virtually the same injured, slumping Bulls will face the Cleveland Cavaliers on national TV Thursday night.  I'm not sure if it's possible to kill momentum coming out of the All-Star break, but GarPax might have done it.  We were already low on them, but they keep giving us reasons to think lower.  Hopefully, the players can tune this all out and go 3-0 on Cleveland for the year.

Surging or Sorry Second Half Coming?

I'd call this a midseason report, but the Bulls have already played 63 percent of their regular season.  Amazing how the All-Star break comes when the season is far beyond halfway finished these days.  But that only means we know a little bit more about this team.  And what we know is not very pleasant.

A season that began with dreams of competing for the NBA title, or at least matching up with Cleveland well, has quickly regressed into one that's spinning out of control.  The Bulls lost 13 of their final 18 games in the first half, dropping them to 27-25, just one game in front of ninth-place Detroit in the East.  It's caused the fan base to become more disenchanted than ever with some even calling for Gar Forman and John Paxson to blow up the roster.  Nobody is prepared to tolerate another early playoff exit.

The long-term injuries to key players sure haven't helped.  Jimmy Butler was set to make his second straight All-Star appearance, but the self-proclaimed new team leader injured his knee in a game and will be sidelined at least well into March.  Nikola Mirotic, who was already having a tough second year, suffered a setback while recovering from an appendectomy and is out indefinitely.  And Joakim Noah, who wasn't doing much to help his or the team's cause to begin with, has been shelved for the rest of the season, possibly his last in Chicago, after having surgery on his separated shoulder.

These health issues have made it impossible to determine who many of the regular starters are.  Derrick Rose, who has increased his scoring every month since the start of the season, is a rightful mainstay among the first five.  Same for Pau Gasol, who replaced Butler on the All-Star team and is still good for a double-double each night, which is why the Bulls are reportedly shopping him ahead of Thursday's trade deadline.  Otherwise, it's difficult to find healthy players they can count on to get them going and play well to boot.

Although Taj Gibson has already made his most starts since his rookie year, the 30-year-old's scoring average (10.3 points per game last year to eight this year) and shooting attempts (8.2 to 6.7 in field goals and three to 1.9 in free throws) have taken a step back.  His rebounding average is up from 6.4 to 7.2, but overall he hasn't been enough to keep the Bulls afloat.  Tony Snell has started a lot this season too, though he's scored in double figures in just 10 of 50 games.  The more we watch him play, the less we're convinced he's a legitimate NBA player.

Mike Dunleavy returned from a back injury late in the first half and even started twice, so the jury's still out on him.  However, there's little reason to believe the Bulls' likely equivalent to a new player acquisition will make a huge difference in getting the season back on track.  Although Doug McDermott is getting an unofficial redo on his rookie season, he's mostly been what many have long suspected about him:  a pure shooter and not much else.  The good news for him is he's only 24, so for all we know, this is a player still adjusting to the NBA and figuring out what's required of him.

Aaron Brooks and E'Twaun Moore have done most of the backup point guard duties with the latter getting starts as necessary.  Brooks isn't as productive as last year, which is about what you'd expect from a veteran role player on the wrong side of 30.  Moore has been given more playing time than a year ago and does well with the opportunities he's given.  But like with other Bulls role players, you don't really want either to have to bail you out if you're trailing in a close game.

Bobby Portis, one of the few pieces people are willing to keep in the event of a fire sale, had to earn his way into the rotation.  Once he did, he showed how productive he can be, averaging seven points in 16.2 minutes over 32 games.  The ceiling is certainly higher for him than Cameron Bairstow.  The 2014 second-round pick has been forced into more action recently due to all the injuries to the bigs and nobody can be blamed for being scared if he's playing meaningful minutes.

Kirk Hinrich has been pushed toward the end of the bench, but his numbers are up overall from last year.  That probably has more to do with his limited playing time than anything else.  Cristiano Felicio is having his growing pains as an unheralded rookie who barely sees the floor.  We don't know the full extent of his game yet, so it's not fair to judge him based on 19 minutes over seven games.

Fred Hoiberg deserves some blame for mistakes typical of a first-year head coach (rotations, late-game management, etc.), but he can't receive most of it.  The situation he's in affords him some benefit of the doubt.  Until he gets a roster that fits Hoiball more, there's not a whole lot he can do.  It will take at least another year or two for him to realize what can happen with the right personnel.

This mess of a season has no choice but to keep going.  With most Eastern Conference playoff teams within striking distance, the Bulls would ideally chip away at their deficit until they got higher than their current seventh seed.  But nothing comes easy for this team, even with all the offensive freedom Hoiball affords.  The defense has failed constantly and until that's corrected, the doubt over whether this is even a playoff team will persist.

Ironically, the Bulls are 4-0 against the top two East teams in Cleveland and Toronto.  Even stranger is that they open the second half with a back-to-back with those clubs.  Of course, they've been healthier and deeper in those earlier meetings.  There's no question they should be the underdogs in both games.

Before you click away, check out the Bulls podcast I did for my online sports reporting class with my classmate Jim Alexander.  As you'll find out, we're both very pessimistic on the rest of this season and beyond.  I even throw in the thought of the Bulls potentially acquiring Dwight Howard to accelerate a potential rebuild.  Leave any of your own thoughts in the comments below.

A Weak Ash Wednesday

I can't believe I, usually one of the most optimistic Bulls fans around, am changing my tune on my outlook for this season.  Never mind that they've been stripped to the bare bone with injuries or that they're heading into the All-Star break.  I'll spare the details of their 113-90 Ash Wednesday defeat to the Atlanta Hawks and the ugliness it involved, but it made one thing clear to me:  something others have probably expressed elsewhere.  It might be time to blow it up.

That's 13 losses in their last 18 and their fifth straight defeat at the United Center, the first such stretch since March 2010.  The Bulls are now 27-25 for a whopping two games above .500, one game in front of ninth-place Detroit in the East and their four-game losing streak is the longest in the Central.  Completely unacceptable for a team that was supposed to challenge Cleveland for the conference.  Instead, we're watching...I have no clue.

Actually, here's a rough idea:  the Bulls can't close on offense and don't crack down on defense.  Put them together and a conference contender becomes a team inching ever closer to the draft lottery.  There's no way it should be like this.  Yet here we are, watching poor basketball wondering what could have been both this year and last.

The trade deadline comes just after the break and this is where the Bulls will decide who they are.  Do they hope everything turns around or do they play the market for the future?  If Gar Forman and John Paxson don't at least consider the latter, they're only fooling themselves.  Refusing to consider all options is practically begging for a firing, though I'm not convinced the ever loyal Jerry Reinsdorf is even considering dumping his boys onto the street.

In a possible sign the organization really is out of touch, ESPN's Brian Windhorst said in an ESPN 1000 interview that the front office is looking to re-sign Pau Gasol this offseason for $20 million.  If they even consider such a deal, count on a lot of empty seats at the United Center next season in protest.  Obviously, there will be other reasons, but pulling this off will make it quite difficult not to compare them to the Settlers on those DirecTV commercials.

The roster needs to be broken up, plain and simple.  If nothing happens in the next week, it better after the season.  Whether the potential new-look Bulls fit Fred Hoiberg's system or a possible new head coach's (and that might not be a farfetched idea), they need to be comfortable with that as well as each other.  The current Bulls have no indication of doing either at the moment.

I'll have a midseason report coming in the next week.  Additionally, I'm doing a podcast about the team for my grad school class, so I'll post that here as well.  I'll be busy trying to be productive during the break.  Whether the Bulls are willing or able to do the same can't be guaranteed.

Injury Pandemic Forces Pondering

Consider the above picture symbolism.  Following re-examination by Bulls team physician Brian Cole, Butler will be out three to four weeks with a strained left knee.  That means he'll miss the All-Star Game, but Pau Gasol was chosen to take his place.  Gasol was seen by many as a snub earlier, but his sixth All-Star selection barely means anything when his team has lost 12 of 17 and sits just 1 1/2 games ahead of ninth-place Charlotte in the East.

What began as a season of cautious optimism has turned into one with playoff hopes in doubt.  Lately, the long-term injuries to Joakim Noah and Nikola Mirotic have accelerated that process.  With Butler out of action, Derrick Rose can seemingly ill afford to sit many games out, as he did with general soreness in Monday's 108-91 loss to the Charlotte Hornets.  Mike Dunleavy has returned, but it might be a little too late.

The more the injury bug strips this team of its assets, the more we realize how far they are from really contending for a title.  Worse yet, there doesn't seem to be much, if any unity among the players.  We've seen no indication that anyone really enjoys playing with each other.  The question is whether Gar Forman and John Paxson sense the same thing enough that they'll want to make a move.

With Gasol being the most tradeable remaining healthy player, it's worth wondering how much his replacing Butler on the All-Star team is really worth excitement in Chicago.  It's already known he's going to opt out of his contract after this year.  Until now, I've remained firm in my stance that he's not worth shopping at the risk of making the frontcourt thinner than it already is.  But with the season quickly turning into a free fall, the Bulls are keeping gold in a dumpster fire.

This downward spiral hasn't been fun for anybody.  The longer it happens, the more respect the Bulls lose and the less fun we have watching them.  In ESPN's latest Power Rankings, they had the biggest drop at eight spots, all the way down to 17th.  So many people were tweeting #FireGarPax during last night's game, it showed up on the hashtag list before a user could finish typing it.

And yes, I'll admit to being one of the people tweeting #FireGarPax during Monday's game, doing it in response to Chuck Swirsky's tweet right before the second half.  I've had just about enough of their faith that Fred Hoiberg can make Tom Thibodeau's roster better than Thibodeau ever could.  If they blame this poor season on injuries alone, it will show how out of touch they really are.  I'm charging them to salvage this season since they're still employed, but they do not fit the long-term picture of this franchise.

After that 2-5 Disney on Ice trip, the Bulls have one home game before the All-Star break.  That will be played Wednesday against the Atlanta Hawks.  Will this team, tied for first in the Southeast, face the determined Bulls who almost only show up against the heavyweights of the conference?  Or are the Bulls too thin to keep up with those clubs anymore?

Holding Breath for Butler

Yeah, the Bulls blew another game Friday after being up 18, this one 105-100 to the Denver Nuggets, but what else is new?  It took a back seat to Jimmy Butler spraining his left knee, the same knee that caused him to miss Wednesday's win over Sacramento, and leaving the contest with just over a minute left in the second quarter.  He was carted off, but not before he insisted on shooting the two free throws he earned on the play in which he was injured.  The results of an MRI performed were not known as of this writing, but he will miss Saturday's game with the Minnesota Timberwolves.

Butler, recently named to his second straight All-Star Game, momentarily became the latest subject in the Bulls' injury bug.  Joakim Noah is likely out for the year, Nikola Mirotic is in the hospital (from which he tweeted out concerns about Butler), Pau Gasol is battling an injured hand and who really knows if Mike Dunleavy will actually make his return on Saturday?  It's silly to believe in curses, but it's also becoming more difficult to think the Bulls don't have one attached to them.  And as crazy as it sounds, Derrick Rose is currently the only regular starter from last year who's completely healthy.

While it doesn't sound likely (we hope), a long-term Butler injury would be the most devastating of all.  He's the main reason the Bulls have any kind of respectability in this tumultuous year.  Sure, Rose had a solid January with 17.6 points per game and his first three February games have seen averages of 21.7 points, six rebounds and seven assists.  But just as Butler can't win anything without the former MVP, Rose can't carry the Bulls without Butler.

We all remember how when Rose tore his meniscus early in the 2013-14 season, the whole season outlook changed.  Eventually, Luol Deng was traded, signaling Gar Forman and John Paxson were ready to get his expiring contract off the books and get some value.  That pick brought the future Kings pick, which might come this year.  If the Butler injury turns out to be more serious, does that force them to work the phones again?

Whatever the case may be, this is the perfect time to reflect on how important Butler is to this team.  They really do sink or swim with him as much as they do Rose.  If either one of them falls, everyone else falls.  This year in particular, they can ill afford it if they're still trying to win a championship.

Luckily, it looks like a worst-case scenario will be avoided.  Not only might Butler be back within the next week, but he might still be able to play in the All-Star Game.  Him nearly being carted off and then, going back to shoot the free throws before leaving could be a metaphor for just how long he'll be out.  He might miss a game or two, but he'll be back to do his thing very soon.

What Will Mike Be Like?

With Bulls players dropping like flies, it's understandably difficult to keep track of who's healthy.  Nikola Mirotic's setback caused by a hematoma removal, putting him out indefinitely, has only added to this mindset.  All these health issues from guys the Bulls could have used in a trade mean it's unlikely they'll be able to upgrade their roster for the second half of the season.  Or do they?

Mike Dunleavy, who has missed the entire season after having back surgery and suffering a setback during rehab, is set to return Saturday against the Minnesota Timberwolves.  He has finally been taking full contact in practices and performing full workouts.  One of the final steps on his road to recovery was practicing with Santa Cruz of the D-League for two days.  The Bulls' recent stay in California undoubtedly had something to do with where he was sent.

This is the equivalent to a midseason deal without actually giving anything up.  The question is what will the 35-year-old Dunleavy be able to do coming off everything he's gone through?  Will he be close to the 10.5 points per game and 43.2 field-goal percentage he's achieved in two seasons with the Bulls?  Or will his scoring numbers drop from last year like most of his teammates?

While it's difficult to predict this year's value for sure, there's no denying he's reliable when healthy.  He played every game in 2013-14 and started every contest in which he was active last year.  His offensive rating of 113 in 2014-15 was second only to Jimmy Butler at 122, as was his true shooting percentage (57.3 to Butler's 58.3).  That may or may not have had to do with his team leading 40.7 percent from 3-point land (no, Pau Gasol's 46.2 percent doesn't count:  he only attempted 26 treys).

Dunleavy is a player you want to find for both long and open shots.  If you take away Gasol's infrequent long shooting and Doug McDermott barely playing after last year's injury, Duneleavy unseats both as far as top field-goal percentage from at least 16 feet (46.1) and 2-point field goals assisted (76.5).  None of that matters when you realize that was when he didn't miss nearly as much time with injuries.  Still, his most recent history suggests the Bulls will be grateful for any possible improvement to that 25th-ranked 43.5 field-goal percentage, 26th-ranked 51.7 true shooting percentage and 29th-ranked 2-point field goal percentage (45.9).

Amazingly, there's still time for the Bulls to save their season.  Will Dunleavy's mere addition turn it all around?  Probably not, but at least there's cause for hope.  Perhaps the rest of his teammates can follow his example and learn how to take good, smart shots.

Many are nervous that the Bulls are only 3 1/2 games ahead of ninth-place Charlotte in the East.  They'd feel better if the Bulls could pass Atlanta and Boston and be comfortably in third.  Heck, it'd be even more fun if they could chase Cleveland and Toronto, against whom they are 4-0.  Of course, that might just be an indictment of how well they play top teams, so maybe Dunleavy's addition will give them much-needed help against the bad teams they struggle with.

Moore Help

Don't let the above picture fool you:  Jimmy Butler missed Wednesday's game with the Sacramento Kings with left knee tendinitis.  E'Twaun Moore started in his place and couldn't have been better with a career-high 24 points, including four 3-pointers.  Oh sure, he missed two crucial free throws late in what appeared to be the latest Bulls collapse, but DeMarcus Cousins offset that by bricking a pair of his own.  Happy days returned, at least for the moment, thanks to a 107-102 win.

Derrick Rose, forced to pick up some of the slack without Butler, finished one assist shy of a double-double in a 21-point effort.  Pau Gasol did achieve a double-double, his 28th of the season, with 16 points and 13 rebounds.  Taj Gibson, the only remaining Bull who has played in every game this year, totaled 12 in what's become his usual starting spot (which I'm probably late in pointing out).  Off the bench, Doug McDermott had 11 on 40 percent shooting.

The Bulls somewhat resembled a cohesive offensive unit for once.  Sure, 45.5 percent shooting from the field was not that much better than the 43.4 percent for the season entering this game (tied for 26th in the league), but going 11-for-21 (52.4 percent) from beyond the arc was a help.  When you consider Golden State, well on its way to being one of the all-time great shooting teams, is shooting 42.8 percent from long range, it was hard not to think the offense was invincible at times.

While the Bulls don't have the personnel to play Golden State's style, or even Fred Hoiberg's style, it's sure refreshing to see them knocking down shots with regularity that would make Stephen Curry jealous.  It's unlikely the roster will be overhauled to fit Hoiball anytime soon, especially not this year.  But the talent is there, which should translate into more frequent success offensively.  It hasn't shown as much as anyone would like, which leaves us scratching our heads as to what exactly has gone wrong at the most inopportune times.

The Disney on Ice trip will continue Friday when the Bulls play the Denver Nuggets.  The last time these teams met, the Bulls won 99-90 on Dec. 2.  To sweep the season series, more potent offense will be needed.  Is it too greedy to want more of what we just saw in California's capital?