John Hollinger does the work in pointing out exactly how bad this start has been. It's a pretty academic exercise: all the players stink.

The worrisome part is that this isn't just a slow start. The offense is historically awful. Every single player ('cept Joe Smith) is playing worse than last year. But the more you read it's almost therapeutic. Yes, the Bulls are really playing incredibly awful. But it's so awful that you'd have to think it won't continue.

Simply: It's a fluke.

A group of players this young (save Wallace, if he's really toast) don't suddenly all forget how to play. They'll get back to their usual levels by the time the season's over.

There are minor suggestions that have been made: Hollinger just figures play the high-PER guys more like Smith and Noah. Sam Smith's sticking to his tall-ball idea (complete with Tyrus dig!). But there's no real solution unless the major core guys just play better. Which is why I'm still angry at Skiles for his knee-jerk lineup changes, as it's tough to also overcome the damage done by replacing Luol Deng's minutes by Adrian Griffin.

So hoping this start is actually over, we know the 'what', but actually, but I'm forgetting the 'why' too. This is beyond a slow start, it's incomprehensible. So why strain our amateur psychology hats figuring it out?

So when they do get back to normal, then we can start really evaluating the team (and Skiles, of whom this start is a definite strike against). Because as it's been said many many times: just back to normal isn't enough in the first place.