PG: It's getting ugly out there

[Red8911]

We are like 10 games under .500. This season is a massive failure and that is not changing.

Playoffs is the goal. Not a failure if they make it and I think they will.

Not for me,now I'm looking for many losses as possible for a chance on the first 4 picks by lottery or not.So I believe it's time to tank.Season is over,trades weren't good enough for turning the Bulls in a playoff team, I'm done watching Sato and Coby running the point and sucking every game.

You want to tank to help Orlando get a better pick ? Got to be very lucky to get into the top 4 pick. There’s no chance the bulls are tanking with this roster.

You guys need to chill out this is a new team that hasn’t even played 10 games together. It’s not easy to build chemistry so quickly mid season, this takes time. Also the games/schedule have been tough which didn’t help. Despite this they will turn it around and will make the playoffs.

[MalagaBulls]

It's the Bulls' fault that we're even having this conversation about Pat. He should be getting 15 to 20 minutes per game, learning the ropes, and we should be drawing no conclusions at all about him. This was his year to be a work in progress, not a guy being criticized because he was asked to run before he could do the NBA walk.

Rule #1 - Put your players in position to succeed.
Rule #2 - Don't forget Rule #1

I am fine with Pat. I think he will become a good player, maybe very good.

The main reason PWill got thrust into this position was Otto's failure to stay healthy. I had high hopes before the season OPJ would be averaging 16/7/4 & playing decent D. PWill would be coming in off the bench averaging 15-18 minutes with no pressure.
Oh well.

[FriedRise]

Playoffs is the goal. Not a failure if they make it and I think they will.

Not for me,now I'm looking for many losses as possible for a chance on the first 4 picks by lottery or not.So I believe it's time to tank.Season is over,trades weren't good enough for turning the Bulls in a playoff team, I'm done watching Sato and Coby running the point and sucking every game.

You want to tank to help Orlando get a better pick ? Got to be very lucky to get into the top 4 pick. There’s no chance the bulls are tanking with this roster.

You guys need to chill out this is a new team that hasn’t even played 10 games together. It’s not easy to build chemistry so quickly mid season, this takes time. Also the games/schedule have been tough which didn’t help. Despite this they will turn it around and will make the playoffs.

I'm as anti-tank as it comes, but looking at the standings, we're right now 3.5 games behind 9th place Indiana but only 3 games ahead of 13th place Cavs. I don't know if we're realistically gonna catch up to Cleveland, but their remaining schedule (as well as Washington's and Orlando's) is a lot easier than ours. Toronto is the wild card since their remaining schedule is harder than us, but they are starting to get some players back. Meanwhile, we're struggling to win games in this supposed "easy" part of our schedule unless the other team is missing 3+ key rotational players.

Now with that said, we are going to keep playing to win given all the moves we did at the deadline. But if we somehow end up sliding all the way down to 13th for whatever reason, we'd have a 42% chance of landing a top 4 pick. That's more or less a coin flip, and I'd say that's a pretty decent chance of keeping our '21 pick.

[RoseTheFuture22]

I feel like we watch the same game every night, play decent to good in the first half and get a lead and then in the second half the other team makes adjustments and just totally blows us out in the second half. I didn't think Memphis played well at all in the first half yet I think they led by 1.

Like others have said, Pat needs to have his role reduced to 15-20 minutes this season unless he is playing well.

Coby's turn in the rotation in the late 3rd/early 4th may have been the worst minutes of his career which is really saying something. I don't know what to do with him because his confidence looks completely shot.

Idk what we are doing with Lauri, he should definitely be playing more even though he was a nonfactor yesterday. Probably should split the 4 minutes almost entirely between Lauri/Thad with a little bit of Theis for the remainder of the season

[CaPiTanAK]

We are likely going to be in the 6-9 zone. We need some luck in addressing some of our needs. Honestly I’m not entirely against trading Lavine for #1 pick in this draft if we are lucky enough to sneak into top 4. Two top #4 lottery picks and a ton of cash is a lot easier to rebuild a team from a nobody into a playoff contending team.

[HearshotKDS]

The 2 PGs on the team were collectively 3/13 8 Points 4 Assists 5 Turnovers, PG continues to be the most obvious concern.

The Defense isn't really getting better as the players get used to one another.

He's just a rookie, but god damn PWill has been useless in the last few game stretch. 2 points in the last 2 games despite playing oer 50 minutes is head scratching.

This team is not complete yet, AK needs to pull some rabbits out of hats in the offseason to fix the glaring holes otherwise this teams ceiling is a less talented version of the Jimmy Butler bulls.

With 53 games played it's time for evaluating that AK screwed the 4# pick,he should have drafted Haliburton.I was wrong about PWill being a steal,not really a bust yet but increasingly looking like a bench role player, hopefully good.

I dont think its time to say #4 pick was a bust, but I am on board to say "if we're prioritizing winning games over developing youth then WIlliams needs to no longer be the starting SF".

[DuckIII]

Playoffs is the goal. Not a failure if they make it and I think they will.

Not for me,now I'm looking for many losses as possible for a chance on the first 4 picks by lottery or not.So I believe it's time to tank.Season is over,trades weren't good enough for turning the Bulls in a playoff team, I'm done watching Sato and Coby running the point and sucking every game.

You want to tank to help Orlando get a better pick ? Got to be very lucky to get into the top 4 pick. There’s no chance the bulls are tanking with this roster.

You guys need to chill out this is a new team that hasn’t even played 10 games together. It’s not easy to build chemistry so quickly mid season, this takes time. Also the games/schedule have been tough which didn’t help. Despite this they will turn it around and will make the playoffs.

Some opposing NBA team will get that pick whether it’s Orlando with ours or not.

The ideal pipe dream scenario is we got Vuc, Theis and Brown AND get a top 4 pick. The playoffs can suck it. Who gives a crap if this failing team back doors into the playoffs in a weak conference? I’m rooting for the Bulls, not organizational TV revenues.

The post trade play of this team has illustrated with perfect clarity that it was an incomplete process with much more to be done this offseason to shore up the roster. Which makes making the playoffs this year, with this roster, even less meaningful.

[ZOMG]

Not for me,now I'm looking for many losses as possible for a chance on the first 4 picks by lottery or not.So I believe it's time to tank.Season is over,trades weren't good enough for turning the Bulls in a playoff team, I'm done watching Sato and Coby running the point and sucking every game.

You want to tank to help Orlando get a better pick ? Got to be very lucky to get into the top 4 pick. There’s no chance the bulls are tanking with this roster.

You guys need to chill out this is a new team that hasn’t even played 10 games together. It’s not easy to build chemistry so quickly mid season, this takes time. Also the games/schedule have been tough which didn’t help. Despite this they will turn it around and will make the playoffs.

Some opposing NBA team will get that pick whether it’s Orlando with ours or not.

The ideal pipe dream scenario is we got Vuc, Theis and Brown AND get a top 4 pick. The playoffs can suck it. Who gives a crap if this failing team back doors into the playoffs in a weak conference? I’m rooting for the Bulls, not organizational TV revenues.

The post trade play of this team has illustrated with perfect clarity that it was an incomplete process with much more to be done this offseason to shore up the roster. Which makes making the playoffs this year, with this roster, even less meaningful.

When we're giving Point Coby a lot of minutes, playing a basketball non-entity like rookie Pat 30 minutes, marginalizing a guy shooting 39% from the perimeter and something like 75% at the rim...

... we're not trying to win.

I know this may come as a shock to some of you.

The true goal is something else.

[DuckIII]

You want to tank to help Orlando get a better pick ? Got to be very lucky to get into the top 4 pick. There’s no chance the bulls are tanking with this roster.

You guys need to chill out this is a new team that hasn’t even played 10 games together. It’s not easy to build chemistry so quickly mid season, this takes time. Also the games/schedule have been tough which didn’t help. Despite this they will turn it around and will make the playoffs.

Some opposing NBA team will get that pick whether it’s Orlando with ours or not.

The ideal pipe dream scenario is we got Vuc, Theis and Brown AND get a top 4 pick. The playoffs can suck it. Who gives a crap if this failing team back doors into the playoffs in a weak conference? I’m rooting for the Bulls, not organizational TV revenues.

The post trade play of this team has illustrated with perfect clarity that it was an incomplete process with much more to be done this offseason to shore up the roster. Which makes making the playoffs this year, with this roster, even less meaningful.

When we're giving Point Coby a lot of minutes, playing a basketball non-entity like rookie Pat 30 minutes, marginalizing a guy shooting 39% from the perimeter and something like 75% at the rim...

... we're not trying to win.

I know this may come as a shock to some of you.

The true goal is something else.

I don’t know the “true goal” and would never pretend to. But missing the pointless playoffs and increasing our odds at getting into the top 4 picks would be just dandy with me.

[HomoSapien]

We currently have the 10th worse record in the league. It's going to be really hard to climb into the top four standings-wise unless Vuc or Zach sits at some point this season. Right now we currently only have a 13.9% chance of getting a top 4 pick. If we move to the 6th spot (we're about 4 games back), we still only have a 34.8% chance of getting a top 4 pick.

[DuckIII]

We currently have the 10th worse record in the league. It's going to be really hard to climb into the top four standings-wise unless Vuc or Zach sits at some point this season. Right now we currently only have a 13.9% chance of getting a top 4 pick. If we move to the 6th spot (we're about 4 games back), we still only have a 34.8% chance of getting a top 4 pick.

Any chance, to me, is better than this “play in” nonsense.

[TheStig]

Really really wish we would have pieced something together for Ball. Sato can't create and Coby is dreadfull if his shot isn't falling.

[HomoSapien]

We currently have the 10th worse record in the league. It's going to be really hard to climb into the top four standings-wise unless Vuc or Zach sits at some point this season. Right now we currently only have a 13.9% chance of getting a top 4 pick. If we move to the 6th spot (we're about 4 games back), we still only have a 34.8% chance of getting a top 4 pick.

Any chance, to me, is better than this “play in” nonsense.

Maybe, but it'd sure be deflating if we end the season with a bunch of losses and then lose our draft pick. That might be what ends up happening anyway, but I'd like to go into the off-season with some sort of momentum.

[GoBlue72391]

Read on Twitter

Boylen almost got Thad to retire. This season has had its shares of frustrating moments, but I'm sure for the players it's night/day compared to last year's experience.

Idk. At least us sucking last year made sense. The players were surrounded by incompetent coaching and management and lacking in high end talent. This year we have more than enough talent to make the playoffs in the weak East and we have competent management and a coach who at least has a good reputation. In many ways I think this year is worse than last year.

[Ice Man]

I like how Memphis plays. ja is a blast, Dillon Brooks is a good hard-nosed wing, and Valanciunas pushes people around, the way an old-fashioned center is supposed to play.

[drosestruts]

I like how Memphis plays. ja is a blast, Dillon Brooks is a good hard-nosed wing, and Valanciunas pushes people around, the way an old-fashioned center is supposed to play.

Dillon Brooks is a mirage. He plays hard and does a lot of things, but I'm not entirely sold their good things. Did enjoy Vuc karate chopping him in the throat.

Ja is amazing. I know people often talk about the Luka draft and question "what might have been" but I don't think there Bulls were ever eyeing Luka, if we had a higher pick I think we would have ended up with Bagley (yuck) or Jaren Jackson (which would have been cool). In the Ja draft though it seemed clear that Pax liked Morant and would have taken him, so in some ways that draft hurts more.

[SfBull]

Well we can always trade Vooch & Zach for possibly 3 FRP's on draft night. Sarcastic, kidding? Maybe I don't know.

Realistic.I'd consider the idea.

[SfBull]

One of my last game summaries because I'm about to cut the cord on NBA League Pass. It's not worth my $, much less my time to watch that train-wreck on a team any longer.

Very well written Chefo. Sadly I paid mine for the full season.

You mostly said what I had in mind and it does not make sense to keep repeating what I wrote after previous game. This was exact same story with the difference being Memphis keeping us in the game with bad shooting.

I just want to add that no PG will fix this offense Bulls now run. You put Ja in this team and you marginalize Zach, because the offense only involves two players. Zach struggles because there is no movement on court, there is no open lanes for him. It does not make any difference who you have on court besides the screening big and the guard using the pick. They all stand still in the perimeter.

Plenty of posters complain how we do not get any help from supporting players - They cannot help, all options for them to help have been removed outside offensive rebounds and fast breaks which Bulls do not run. For anyone who has played basketball it should be easy to remember how easy it to hit a semi contested three when you have not touched the ball last 5 trips up the court.

I do not blame Zach nor do I blame Vuc, but the least I blame the rest of the team. They execute the moronic plan Bulls call offense.
It is just infuriating. Three weeks ago we had a team that was running very nice offense and had trouble defensively but was still able to compete with healthy Nuggets on the road. I really thought we had something good going and with the additions on the deadline would actually make a good team. Well, all that is thrown away now.

But hey, Pat Williams scored and we still got nice usage to Vuc and Zach got 21.


Shout out to Theis, he seems to somehow still manage to look decent in this mess. When we run Theis, Lauri, Brown, Zach and either Coby or Sato we still look like a basketball team.

Do you believe this roster would play better with
another coach who could build a better offense?

[SfBull]

Gafford outscored Lauri, Pat, and Coby combined tonight.

I want to talk more about this topic. We were getting killed by opposing bigs, dealt our starting and backup centers, brought two new bigs into the rotation, and we continue to get killed by opposing bigs. Meanwhile, our former starting center's new team rarely gets abused by opposing bigs. It['s a bad team, and he is nothing special, but his team doesn't lose because it gets bullied inside.

If I were Bulls management, I would look very hard at why after I shuffled personnel nothing appears to have changed.

Maybe trading Gafford was a great mistake,he could help from the bench much more effectively with the new frontcourt.It'd be better trading Lauri keeping Gafford.

[SfBull]

Coby White
6 Points
2-8 FG
0-4 3FG
3 Turnovers

Tomas Satoranksy
2 Points
1-5 FG
3 Turnovers

We have a few issues but our point guard play is absolutely horrific. It's almost beyond belief.

That trades were incomplete, that's the reason why we won't make the playoffs, if AK had got Ball we'd be in a much better situation.First priority during offseason is getting a decent pg trading Coby,Sato and Valentine if possible.

Yes the trades are incomplete. And if it weren’t already blindingly obvious, the post-trade era has reinforced even more that this team is desperately and absurdly in need of playmaking and defense from either the point guard spot or in the form of the more rare point forward.

But this was known, right? The problem is that when the trade was made we knew it was incomplete and due to the expenditure/restriction of multiple trade assets (effectively WCJ and 4 consecutive first round picks due to league rules), the margin for error was narrowing. But now that margin for error looks absolutely razor thin.

Moreover, this crappy team will not convince Lavine to stay, which was a primary motivation for urgency as well.

A very real path is unfolding in which we:

(1) traded out of a ridiculously loaded draft;

(2) traded two first round picks;

(3) traded a lottery pick player who though struggling as a Bull certainly was talented and capable;

(3) further devalued the value of Lauri and Coby via benchings (depending on your perspective);

(4) lose Lavine for nothing; and

(5) in exchange get two full seasons of a 30-something Vuc.

And then start a rebuild from there.

Basically we need: (a) Williams to become a star, if he can even do that with his mindset, much faster than should be expected; or (b) the 2021 pick to not convey and we land a lottery stud; or (c) a gift from heaven in trade or free agency.

The walls are closing in on AK’s strategy.

And you know there are some interesting wing prospects going for the draft but we traded our frp for Vuc so...