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?