Bulls newcomers proving it's all just a bunch of "guys"
will the wrong lessons be taken from post-AllStarBreak games? almost certainly
We reached the point of the season where the Bulls are met with total ambivalence. The past, oh I don’t know, ten years it’s usually been around this time? And it aligns with a general league-wide drop in quality of play.
In other words: This. Is. (Mickey Mouse) March.
Since I’ve stopped doing game threads due to lack of interest, the Bulls are undefeated. They are still not any good, but that is ok when considering the competition.
I think everyone sensible knows this, and knows that it’s an environment making it impossible to evaluate individual performances. And everyone knows that the Bulls lead decisionmaker not only doesn’t agree, but takes the extreme opposite view: that, actually, these nonsense contests are the most important and informative.
Arturas Karnisovas made sure to say “last 30 games” a ton after the deadline. As they were terrible in the games after that but much better after the All Star Break, I’m all but certain he’ll change his evaluation period to after the break. He says this stuff that I’m not even sure he believes, but more because he is desperately trying to keep his job.
I will not break down any numbers from a sample size of ten games, especially these ten given the opponents (including the Sixers rolling over for a 50-point blowout).
It’s all but certain, based on this front office’s M.O., that they are scraping any positive as reason to justify prior moves. Most egregiously to come with a Josh Giddey ("the Punxatayny Phil of Mickey Mouse March") contract extension. But it’s not just Giddey who is playing well, but the three players returned in the Zach LaVine trade of Kevin Huerter, Tre Jones, and Zach Collins.
But what their play (again, refusing to break it down, it’s been good) has told us is not that they are any good, it’s that they are interchangeable with the rest of the roster because they’re all just guys. And even Zach LaVine, who is better than just a guy, is extremely overrated if he was thought to be irreplaceable in the pursuit of winning 30-35 games a season.
This isn’t even getting closer to the “9-10 very good players” concept that Karnisovas was also trying to spin. If Giddey maintained this play (he won’t) then he’d be one additional member. But the rest are not “very good”, or if they are on a lower standard they are merely replacing others in that strata.
If Zach Collins is a keeper, that more means that it turns out Vucevic is not actually “very important to what we do”, and Jalen Smith (DNP-CD this week) is not actually “promising young player with experience”. If Tre Jones proved he should be re-signed, it is also proof that this front office shouldn’t have been prioritizing contracts for backup guards.
(and the Bulls beat corps parroting of the organization saying that Vuc and Lonzo will increase their trade value heading into the offseason…oof.)
If you’re thinking that this means these guys can’t win with me…well, yeah. Season has long-ago been considered a disaster. A late ‘surge’ - if this even sustains - will only compound the disaster in its reinforcement of the wrong lessons. Plus the adverse effect on lottery odds1.
That’s an awful position to be put in as a fan, but that’s what Bulls fans have been dealing with for years: following the worst-run team in the league.
another big talking point of AK and Billy Donovan is that winning games = winning habits. No, players can develop those habits independently of the game result, especially wins reliant on veteran play
CHGO post-game of this victory over the Jazz is just breaking my brain.
They acknowledge that the Jazz were spectacularly incompetent
but "you can't deny" the Bulls players "playing so well" lately:
- Coby White ascending to star level
- Giddey getting $30M
- Tre Jones getting $15M
The Bulls (the BULLS!) have "too many good players" and can't let them get away. And we should credit the front office and coaching staff for being in alignment to where these new additions can succeed in this system.
To reiterate this post, it's likely the opposite. The system (running and launching threes and not caring about defense) can make any player, especially a guard, put up big numbers. And they are playing so well against teams that are either not trying, hurt, or both. The reason they are getting victories is because of their own defense (so, a fluke).
I understand why the Bulls front office will push this, but we don't have to as fans. I do understand that I'm not watching the games and Chuggo is, and they don't want that to seem totally pointless. But, ya know, Quinten Grimes had 46 points last night.
This season has been a parody of Bulls seasons. The CHSN debacle. The bad trades. The terrible press conferences. The refusal to focus on rookie development. The pointless wins.
An unforgettably forgettable parade of nonsense.
And it’s only going to get worse. They’ll continue to win games in March and worsen their lottery standings. They might actually win the play-in tournament this year due to the Heat being truly bad now. They’ll then get blown out by the Cavs in laughable fashion and AK’s response will be “Hey we made the playoffs for the first time in a couple of years. This season was a success!” And the prize for our success will be the 15th overall pick.
AK has cracked the code. In the play-in era, if a bad team with a careless owner never accepts the fact that their team is bad, then they can coast on 30-something wins forever and no one will lose their job.