No Magic for Bulls

Maybe it's good I missed Wednesday's game with the Orlando Magic due to being in class.  When Taj Gibson was ruled out with the right hamstring strain he suffered in Tuesday's loss to Miami, Cameron Bairstow was thrust into the starting lineup.  That's all you needed to know before this 102-89 loss.

That wasn't the only pregame drama to emerge either.  Tony Snell somehow missed the team flight the previous night, making us wonder what the heck could have happened.  Then, a report came out that Boston offered its two first-round draft picks this year for Jimmy Butler at the trade deadline, but the Bulls turned it down.  Gar Forman and John Paxson continue to look worse by the day.

Four of five Magic starters scored in double figures, led by Nikola Vucevic's 24.  Mario Hezonja totaled 21, Aaron Gordon had a double-double of 13 points and 15 rebounds and Elfrid Payton dished out 12 assists.  Not bad for the worst team in the Southeast.

Derrick Rose led the Bulls in scoring and assists with 16 and six respectively.  Pau Gasol scored 12 and Doug McDermott had 11 off the bench.  Bairstow played just five minutes until being reinserted during garbage time, ultimately scoring eight.  With so few bigs available, the Bulls were forced to go small and Bairstow just needed to bring some stability at power forward at the start.

The Bulls have officially tumbled to .500 at 30-30 and obviously, were still out of the East's final playoff spot.  To put their four-game losing streak in perspective, only Philadelphia's 10-game skid is longer.  Just about everything with this team is pointing down with no end in sight.

True, they might still get into the playoffs when Butler and Nikola Mirotic return, but who outside the organization really wants it?  ESPN 1000 polled Twitter users about what they would prefer and 67 percent of over 700 voters preferred that the Bulls miss the playoffs.  Most people realize a first-round exit does nothing for them and, given the stubbornness of the front office, they would do nothing to truly revamp the team.

This is why Forman, if not Paxson or both, needs to go after the season.  There's little reason to think he really knows what's best for the future.  GarPax constantly tries to squeeze what little juice is out of the carton, even if an offer for quality assets is on the table.  Until they realize the current roster is a lost cause, we'll be forced to relive this story over and over.

Whether you want them to or not, the Bulls resume play Saturday against the Houston Rockets.  It's at the United Center, where they've won three of their last four.  Any fashion in which they can stop the bleeding would be welcome.  But we've said that too often this year and it's getting very exhausting.