It happened again on Friday: Bulls got Pritchard-ed.
Or, maybe more accurately: they got Giddey-ed?
Josh Giddey wasn’t the only reason the Bulls went down 32 points in the first half in Boston on Friday. Note in that highlight Matas Buzelis getting bodied under the rim by a guy 8 inches shorter than him. Outside of this clip, Caleb Wilson was caught watching and not giving much of an effort several times defensively as the Bulls allowed the Celtics to go 13/15 from inside the arc in that 1st quarter.
But Wilson distinguished himself by his second half effort, beyond the bare minimum of ‘clapping and at least looking focused’ (a threshold that Giddey - and maybe this is just his aesthetics - can’t reach).
This is more than just performative hustle, it’s an exemplary display of motor and athleticism:
Wilson was one of several in the post-game locker room urgently addressing the lack of effort in these blowout losses. That is not even reaching bare minimum, but it’s better than not saying the obvious1.
One thing we’ve quickly learned is that Wilson is already the team’s best player. I suppose that’s good news that he’s establishing himself as such, but bad news that he’s showed it so early and so definitively.
It was clear that Wilson would be the focal point of this roster rebuild, but there was a player at a tier below of importance in Matas Buzelis, and then 2-3 tiers below that2 in Josh Giddey. And an early season trend - caveats apply that it’s very early, and against tough opponents - is that all three of them playing together is not working. They are an absolute train wreck defensively which is putting them in these
I don’t think that matters from a win/loss perspective. But you do not want a season-long trudging that can make too many games absolute junk or at least desperately non-normal. And you do not want the locker room to go sideways if some players see and know that other players are getting a pass and remaining in their roles due to inertia. Now, certain players should get a pass. But on this team that would only be for Wilson himself, and I think to his credit he is mostly pulling his weight and sustaining effort to where such a pass isn’t needed yet.
Reminder: Wilson’s developmental ‘lab’ is top priority for the team on the court this season. A secondary priority is fostering development for Buzelis in his third season. Maybe a third priority is to raise/maintain trade values for veterans like Powell, Smith, and Jones.
It is absolutely not a priority to ‘get Josh Giddey going’. Giddey has never shown enough for a long enough period of time to be worth the investment in his development, and his contract made him untradeable for positive value the minute he signed it.
Maybe the team defense is worse because of other personnel (including Wilson) and Giddey is just as bad as always plus forced out of position. And maybe Giddey was never - even when putting up counting stats - meant to be the singular ballhandler and the Bulls offense was relying more on Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu (and Billy Donovan playing many (so many) guards) than Giddey’s own individual talents.
The answer to these lineup problems is not to try and fit in others to maximize Giddey’s strengths. Those strengths - how many ‘easy looks’ for Wilson and Buzelis has Giddey generated? and not when already down 25…- aren’t worth it3. The answer is limit Giddey’s negative effect on lineups by playing him less.
With Tre Jones in the starting lineup instead, you get better point-of-attack defense and much surer ball security on offense4. The lack of shooting is a problem for both, but Jones - especially this year so far - is proving more capable at dribble penetration5 to generate defensive attention. Maybe some of that evidence is altered when starting/reserve roles are flipped, but neither player is good enough to assume that.
At the risk of being repetitive and overcompensating for feedback: you could run that same logical exercise over Matas Buzelis and reach the same conclusion. But Buzelis is simply more important as a player to develop.
It appears that Tiago Splitter and Bryson Graham are being very patient about everything (it’s the Bulls way), so we shouldn’t expect a lineup change quite yet when it’s so early and the schedule is so rough. Plus there’s likely already a starting lineup change coming as soon as the next game, as reportedly Nic Claxton participated in full at Sunday’s practice.
But I wouldn’t call them desperate and reactionary if they benched Josh Giddey. To me, that’s only if there’s a downside risk, and Giddey is simply not important enough to consider whether you’re messing with his career trajectory or whatever. There’s a bigger risk is in keeping things the same when they’re obviously not working, and Caleb Wilson starting to question why.
speaking of: no, Bulls beat reporters, we don’t need to hear from Patrick Williams anymore. I won’t even dunk on what he said, he shouldn’t be asked anything in the context of him being a contributor.
I have maintained that Giddey is downright fungible, but maybe the team feels differently even though they weren’t the ones deciding to acquire and invest in him.
career-worst rebound rates for Giddey this year, and to me it should be independent of scheme and personnel if it was such a uniquely superior skill of his.
Tre Jones’s turnover percentage is 8.2%. Giddey’s is over 20%.
per NBA tracking data this season: Jones drives the ball 32.25% more often per-minute, and gets in the paint 80% more often.