What was hyped to be the season of the 3 Alphas has turned into what many feared would when Rajon Rondo and Dwyane Wade were signed as sidekicks to Jimmy Butler. Mediocrity is the name of the game and in January, the younger players felt the wrath of Butler and Wade, who were bashed by Rondo on Instagram in return. For the second straight season, Fred Hoiberg has a roster that simply isn't built for his system. And with Sacramento trading DeMarcus Cousins right after Sunday's All-Star Game, the Bulls will likely have to settle for the Kings' second-round pick in the next draft instead of their first-rounder.
Despite so many things going wrong, the Bulls find themselves in the seventh playoff spot in the East at 28-29, one game behind Indiana and one ahead of Detroit. Amazing is that the East's ninth-place team, Milwaukee, is a half-game better than Denver, the eighth seed in the West. So unless the Bulls decide to trade Jimmy Butler before Thursday's trade deadline, it would take a monumental amount of losing for them to miss the playoffs.
That's not what many people want to hear. They see this as a team with no direction stuck in basketball hell and the only option is to tear it down and start over. If GarPax goes that route, it's hard to imagine they'll consider it until the end of the season at the earliest. As long as the team is connected to Jahlil Okafor trade rumors, it's wise to assume they won't be burning anything to the ground soon.
That's good news if you want to keep watching Butler in Chicago. Once again, he's improved from a year ago, posting career highs in almost every relevant category. The new All-Star voting system allowed him to make his first start in three selections. He's proven he belongs among the NBA's elite and he won't slow down until he's stretched his ceiling as high as it can go, which is scary for opponents since it appears the sky's the limit for him.
While his string of 12 consecutive All-Star selections ended this year, the 35-year-old Wade has shown he has plenty left to contribute. When he's not sitting out games to conserve whatever gas is left in his tank, he's creating his own plays and acting clutch in situations where Butler is unavailable. Fortunately, he's been out there enough to wow fans and create memories befitting of a future Hall of Famer near the end of the years in which he can make a real difference. As long as the team doesn't have to go through him all the time, his value will be maximized and the Bulls will gain from that.
The same can't be said for Rondo, who hasn't started since my girlfriend and I saw him begin a 5 1/2-game benching on Dec. 30 in Indiana. His scoring average is at its lowest since his rookie year and he's well on his way to a career-low field goal percentage. Although he still gets his assists each game, that average hasn't been so low since his second season. The one good thing he's done is give the bench a veteran presence it didn't have before, which is beneficial to any team.
For the first time in his career, Taj Gibson has started every game he's played, missing only two all year. His scoring and free-throw percentage are up significantly from last year and he still plays with the same intensity he has since coming in the league. Hard work and not a lot of flash won't get you the accolades of your more talented colleagues, but it gives you respect and admiration from everybody. Gibson has earned all of it and with his contract about to expire, it's sad to know this player who embodies what a Chicago Bull is might soon be out the door.
Robin Lopez, who took over Joakim Noah's starting spot at center, is the only Bull to play and start every game this season. While he's had a bit of a down year, it's been easier to take thanks to lower expectations in the paint without Noah or Pau Gasol. He's another example of doing all the right things with the game he has and there isn't as much pressure on him to create. He won't ever achieve the results of his twin brother Brook, but he's a respectable NBA player the Bulls were lucky to acquire as the centerpiece of their haul in the Derrick Rose trade.
Since Rondo's benching, starting point guard duties have been split between Michael Carter-Williams and Jerian Grant. Carter-Williams might be productive enough to be considered a viable NBA player in the long run, though the Bulls are his third team in four seasons. Plus, he's averaging just 2.7 assists a game this year, by far the fewest in his career. A restricted free agent after the season, he could stand to improve if he wants his next paycheck to be a good one.
Grant, in his second NBA season, has shown flashes of a player belonging in the rotation, particularly by shooting 34.8 percent from 3-point range, but he isn't proving himself enough in other areas. If he wants to stick around the league, he needs to create more plays for himself and others. He has room to grow at 24 though, so look for more out of him.
If you wanna talk disappointments, look no further than Doug McDermott and Nikola Mirotic. While McDermott has gotten more playing time, increased his scoring and is the best 3-point shooter on the team, he hasn't lived up to the expectations of the lottery pick the Bulls drafted two first-round picks to get. He's not the go-to player they expected, but he has one year left on his contract to figure it out, which can't be said for Mirotic, who's becoming a restricted free agent after a season in which he's regressed across the board. He should be fortunate to collect an NBA paycheck right now because at this rate, he's going to find trouble landing elsewhere next season.
As for the rest of the team, Cristiano Felicio does enough with his minutes that he can get it done on both ends during that allotted time. Bobby Portis is still finding his footing, though slowly making strides. Paul Zipser has improved his post play by doing the little things, allowing him to get more minutes than fellow rookie Denzel Valentine, who needs to prove his production matches his basketball smarts at the NBA level and not just with the Windy City Bulls. Isaiah Canaan barely sees action these days, which should tell you all Hoiberg thinks about his potential to thrive here.
Hoiberg could thrive with a roster suited to his demands, but he hasn't gotten one yet. If he did, we might be talking about a more successful Bulls. He's not blameless however. Though he deserves a longer leash than GarPax, nothing about these Bulls indicates he can get the most out of his players like Tom Thibodeau did.
There's talent on this roster, but it's not enough to be considered a consistent winner. The question GarPax has to consider so close to the deadline and beyond is whether the core players can be built around without triggering a total teardown, which Reinsdorf undoubtedly wants to avoid completely. The chairman is 80 and might not have be happy if he knows he must wait for another championship for too long. Then again, he wants to do it his way with GarPax, so he needs to pick a lane and choose it for the greater good of the franchise.
The second half begins Friday with a home meeting against the Phoenix Suns. After the Bulls laid an egg against them on the Disney on Ice trip, one would think the universe would balance itself out. Then again, that's another young and athletic team, the type the Bulls said they would be, but didn't and have ironically struggled against. Funny how saying one thing and doing another works against you.
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