Might as well win 8th place

going nowhere under current management, incremental progress from players could help mitigate the hopelessness

They said it couldn’t be done. Wait, no…when Arturas Karnisovas said after a half-assed trade deadline¹ that reaching the play-in tournament in the worse conference was a goal (he said this out loud!), it wasn’t so much a question of whether they could do it but rather whether they should.

The tank was long dead , but there was still opportunity to use this meaningless-to-the-rest-of-the-league stretch of games to get a longer look at the younger players. Partially helped by injury, they’ve done that.

Which is good, except there is still the underlying factor of the games being noncompetitive even if you are trying to be competitive. After winning an actually-competitive game against the similarly-mid Miami Heat at the end of their season, they have another one tonight for all of the marbles. Well, some of the marbles. Actually, a mere chance to get some of the marbles on Friday against the similarly-mid Atlanta Hawks.

For a technical breakdown and preview, head over to old friend Stephen Noh at The Sporting News.

A lot depends on Josh Giddey, which makes sense as he’s the engine for the offense, and with a hot outside shot and newly-found ability to draw fouls has led the Bulls to their recent success (against teams trying to lose, or rest).

For a normal, even replacement-level front office, Giddey’s performance tonight would matter in how they assess his future with the team. Maybe not the perfect sample of evidence², but as Will Gottlieb at CHGO says, “there are still plenty of questions about the long-term future. Some of which may be answered as soon as Wednesday”

But this is AKME. And why we can’t assess any results, let alone a plan based off of those results, without a feeling of hopelessness.

Because regardless of Giddey’s performance or the game outcome tonight: as Drew Stevens of The Bigs reminds us: AKME has already declared victory.

It’s all but assumed, with local media unable to confirm³, that not only is there a proactive overpayment of Giddey coming, but the entirety of the front office and coaching staff is going to get a contract extension as well.

I don’t think if Giddey throws up a dud, harkening back to his benching by his former team in last year’s playoffs, that it has any bearing on anything. Nor if the Bulls finish in 10th place or 8th place after this tournament if it changes how AKME feels about the team’s trajectory⁴

So all that said…might as well hope the players do well. Giddey, White, Matas Buzelis…have a great game in an actually-competitive environment, and they win the chance at more meaningful games.

It won’t make a difference to the people who make these decisions, but it’ll better inform fans as we yell into the void for another year (or two or three) of play-in aspirations.

1. The LaVine trade looks better that they have seemingly salvaged the spare parts - not targeted players, but mandatory contract throw-ins so no additional credit - though that only works if they actually can get value from them on the court or in a trade next season. Other moves and non-moves from the deadline just look worse.

2. Coby White had a career night in this game last season, which did not carry over into the next season at all

3. Think of how ridiculous this is: a franchise not wanting coverage of them rewarding their front office

4. or if being cynical, they are smart enough to know it’s not going well but are just playing dumb to keep their jobs