Year of Frustration Keeps Going for Bulls: Midseason Report

People have become fed up with the Bulls.  A season filled with turmoil, inconsistency and no willingness to change is causing fans to tune out.  A Crain's Chicago Business report says TV ratings for games on Comcast SportsNet are down 28 percent compared to the final season average and the team is on pace for its lowest average viewership on the network in nearly a decade.  But everything is fine in Jerry Reinsdorf's world as long as he has Gar Forman and John Paxson back next year, which he will, even when players are calling each other out.

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.

Bulls Dealing With Injuries to Butler, Felicio

Having split the first two games of their Disney on Ice trip, the Bulls head into Monday's game against the Sacramento Kings with questions about Jimmy Butler's availability.  After missing Friday's 121-117 overtime loss to the Houston Rockets with a right heel contusion, Butler underwent an MRI the next day, which didn't show any significant damage.  But that didn't stop him from missing practice on Sunday.

Adding to these difficulties was Cristiano Felicio's departure during Friday's game.  He suffered a lower right leg strain and will be out a week.  While his absence doesn't hurt as badly as Butler's, it lessens what little frontcourt depth the Bulls have.  He's shown plenty of promise this season, but needs to prove he's not just an overachiever who happens to have a solid game here and there.

Losing any depth, especially the type that Butler provides, is a problem no team can afford, but especially not the Bulls, who let a potential victory slip away late in regulation on Friday before going down in the extra period.  As a .500 team, anything to cripple your chances of making the playoffs must not be taken lightly.  That's a time when the remaining players, particularly those in the rotation, really have to dig deep.  It might not be enough to make up what your missing teammates contribute, but it's better than feeling sorry for yourself and going through the motions.

Amazingly, the Bulls have somehow bumped up to the seventh seed in the East at 25-26.  That would be crazy enough by itself being in the inferior conference except the 22-28 Denver Nuggets hold the last seed in the West.  It's like the universe is demanding the Bulls be one of the 16 teams left standing in April.  While the playoffs are still no guarantee, you can't let up when you've given yourself no room for error.

This won't be easy because the Bulls aren't built to have any sustained success this year unless you count mediocrity as success.  But if they do just enough over the final two months of the season, they'll be in, though likely as fodder for whoever they draw.  Then again, just getting there is what management wants, right?  Everyone gets what they want.

Bulls More Magical Team in Orlando

The news early Tuesday revolved around Dwyane Wade indicating the rest of the Bulls' season would determine whether he'll stick around for the second year of his contract or opt out.  There was still a game against the Orlando Magic to be played though.  Regardless of if Wade has been thinking about this for awhile and just needed to get it off his chest, he didn't let it affect his play.  In fact, the Bulls put the comments behind them long enough to earn a 100-92 win.

The Bulls came out shooting poorly, but remedied that before the Magic could pull away.  From there, the teams went back and forth until the Bulls slowly extended their lead.  Though they never put it out of reach, they got to a point where they kept Orlando on the precipice between threatening the lead and completely dropping off.  Helping was the Magic missing three players due to injury, including ex-Bull D.J. Augustin.

Wade scored a game-high 21 points and recorded seven steals (tied for the most in the NBA this season), picking up right where he left off in Saturday's win over Sacramento.  Jimmy Butler was just behind with 20 points and a team-high four assists.  Cristiano Felicio continued his ascent with a double-double of 12 points and 10 rebounds.  Doug McDermott scored all 12 of his points from 3-point range.

The Bulls will take a win however they can, even with the distraction of Wade making his departure after this year a possibility.  They created opportunities for themselves and converted on just enough of them.  They also showed the defense that allows them to get the better of inferior teams, at least on certain nights.  In this case, they forced Elfrid Payton into eight of Orlando's 19 turnovers.

This and pretty much every game for the rest of the season will be critical in determining what the 35-year-old Wade does next year.  True, his mere presence has gone against the younger and more athletic route that Gar Forman pledged, but he's also provided the good basketball he has left to the city.  What would it say about a future Hall of Famer in the twilight of his career bolting from his hometown team after just one season of a two-year deal?  Whatever the answer is, Forman and John Paxson might soon learn they've been going about the way they do business all wrong.

A Wednesday meeting at the United Center with the Atlanta Hawks means a quick turnaround.  The way the Bulls start has no place to go but up after Friday's clunker.  At least the bench was ready to put the Hawks on their heels toward the end.  If the Bulls are going to play like that though, they need to do it for a full 48 minutes instead of 12.

Bulls Largely Ineffective Against Thunder

Talk about a day in which Jimmy Butler experienced both the highs and lows of NBA life.  Monday started well for him when he was named the Eastern Conference Player of the Week for last week.  But it wasn't known until shortly before tipoff whether an illness would keep him out against the Oklahoma City Thunder.  Though he tried to play through his condition, he was unsuccessful, making just one free throw and none of his six field-goal attempts before leaving prior to the fourth quarter of a 109-94 loss.

With Butler's condition a prevailing storyline, more drama was added when Dwyane Wade ran into Nikola Mirotic and lay flat on the court, but he walked off on his own and returned to action shortly thereafter.  Though the Thunder led for most of the contest, the Bulls kept it competitive until midway through the third quarter.  That's when the bottom fell out and Fred Hoiberg eventually emptied his bench save for Rajon Rondo, who sat during his entire bobblehead night.  By the end, many Bulls fans had turned their attention to Derrick Rose's bizarre absence from Monday's New York Knicks game.

Russell Westbrook finished one rebound shy of his latest triple-double, though 21 points and 14 assists were just as impressive.  It's become standard to talk of Westbrook in that regard.  The story for the Thunder involved centers Steven Adams and Enes Kanter.  Both lay claim to the paint with many close layups and dunks, combining to score 42 points and shoot 20-of-25 from the field.

With Butler hampered, Wade took the bulk of the on-floor responsibilities and led the Bulls with 22 points.  Michael Carter-Williams scored 15 in the latest proof that his hustle and play earned him the job of starting point guard.  Cristiano Felicio has been an asset with his athleticism and Jerian Grant is developing nicely as a shooter.  Both used those qualities and more to score 11 apiece.

This game did more expose how bad it can get for the Bulls against quality teams, especially when they're not totally healthy.  After Butler and Wade, the drop in talent on this roster is steep.  So if anyone still wants Butler traded now, just know what you'd be watching more regularly without him.  And don't say it would be beneficial in the long run because rebuilding is not as simple as the Cubs have made it out to be, especially in the NBA.

The daunting task of playing the second of a back-to-back  on the road Tuesday against the Washington Wizards became more challenging after Monday's loss.  Butler will not travel with the team, at least not to our nation's capital.  Wade won't play either so he can rest.  As optimistic as I love to be as a Bulls fan, a victory in this game couldn't be called anything except a miracle.

Pacers Outpace Bulls

While my girlfriend and I were driving to Friday's game against the Indiana Pacers, Marc Stein of ESPN reported that Fred Hoiberg is on the hot seat and only the guaranteed money on his five-year, $25 million contract is keeping the Bulls from making a change.  After the game, Hoiberg downplayed the talk, though that's not going to keep it from subsiding.  It will just continue after the Bulls lost, 111-101.

The Pacers threatened to blow it open early after making their first seven field-goal attempts.  But Indiana missed a bunch of layups and had trouble handling the ball, allowing the Bulls to keep pace and even chip away at the lead.  This continued until the game was tied at 95 midway through the fourth quarter and again at 97 two minutes later.  But the Bulls couldn't find that one basket to give them the lead and went cold, allowing the Pacers to end the game on a 14-4 run.

Paul George showed off his value with a game-high 32 points, 11 during the aforementioned game-ending run, on 10-of-20 shooting from the field and making all nine of his free throws.  Jeff Teague, who gave the Bulls plenty of fits in Atlanta before he was traded this summer, did it again by recording a career-high 17 assists.  The rest of the Pacers' starting frontcourt benefited as Thaddeus Young scored 17 and Myles Turner had 15.  Glen Robinson III also reached double figures with 12 points and completed the double-double with 10 rebounds.

Not surprising for the Bulls was Jimmy Butler leading them with 25 points and Dwyane Wade not far behind with 20.  Surprising was Crisitano Felicio's first career double-double (12 points, 12 rebounds), which will only make his strongest supporters scream even louder for him to play more meaningful minutes, though foul trouble in the first half kept him from playing longer during that time.  Michael Carter-Williams earned the right to start the second half over Rajon Rondo, who was benched the final 24 minutes, and made the most of his increased playing time with 12 points and eight boards.  Doug McDermott and Taj Gibson each scored 10.

You gotta give the Bulls credit for not rolling over when they got down in a hurry.  That desire not to be out of games has kept this frustrating season more entertaining than it has any right to be.  But their sloppy play out of the gate and running numerous offensive sets in crunch time that just didn't work did them in.  This was a prime example of how streaky, both good and bad, these Bulls can be.

The Bulls are 16-17 and deserve every bit to be under .500.  The offense isn't that great and the defense tends to get beaten at the worst times.  They give themselves plenty of chances and are often successful at them, but other than the two wins earlier this week, it doesn't happen much in the clutch.  It's up to Hoiberg and his staff to get the players from being on the precipice of needed wins to getting over that hump required to win.

The focus now shifts to Saturday's New Year's Eve date with the Milwaukee Bucks.  At the very least, the Bulls can end 2016 at exactly .500, which would be fitting for this group.  But the Bucks blew them out on both ends of a home-and-home earlier this month and playing the back end of a back-to-back won't make it any easier against this younger, more athletic opponent.  Sound familiar, GarPax?