what meaning is there in this 'meaningful' win?

in which I personally invalidate this entire stretch of games

The Bulls all but clinched a home play-in game as they defeated the Miami Heat (sweeping the 3 games this season) on Wednesday.

As all of the Bulls, Heat, and Hawks (half game up) have at least two remaining games against teams not trying to win, it’s pretty locked in. It’s a fairly rampant contagion of purposeful losing across the league, especially in this final week:

I Love This Game!

As I said last week, this short-term success has likely already done its long-term damage, that being the current management not only retained¹ but emboldened to continue their ‘vision’.

That includes a likely massive overpay of Josh Giddey, who remains extremely hot and had a 28 point triple-double on Wednesday. I was wrong in predicting Giddey’s initial hot streak after the All-Star break couldn’t continue. But I maintain that even while extending ten hot games to twenty-five hot games, if the games don’t matter the performance should be looked at skeptically².

But last night’s game was a legitimate competition and thus a meaningful win. As Will Gottlieb of CHGO remarks, use of that term in this case deserves heavy quotation marks.

I understand Bulls decisionmakers (including the only public facing member, head coach Billy Donovan) are trying to spin that this is all meaningful and therefore useful for the newly-organized young triumvirate of Giddey, Coby White, and Matas Buzelis.

But I’m here to remind you that all these wins were bogus.

Start the music!

• Sixers - tanking

• Raptors - tanking

• Magic - no Jalen Suggs

• Heat - on a back-to-back

• Pacers - no Tyrese Haliburton

• Nets - tanking

• Jazz - tanking

• Kings - on a back-to-back (also…#kangz)

• Lakers - LeBron’s first game back from injury, no continuity!

• Nuggets - no Nikola Jokic, Aaron Gordon

• Lakers - on a back-to-back

• Raptors - tanking

• Blazers - on a back-to-back

• Hornets - tanking

I know, truly incredible that all this ‘success’ can be dismissed so easily. But here we are.

Now, what these wins did give them is more chances at more meaningful games like the one on Wednesday. Well, just one game guaranteed, the 9/10 play-in against this Miami team again.

There is a benefit to playing in those, moreso than whatever is learned in these garbage games the last 6 weeks.

One could even argue (and the Bulls braintrust certainly will) that gaining 5 more of these games (by virtue of making the real playoffs) is more beneficial to the long-term future of the team than a 7% chance of a top-4 pick.

I disagree, but that’s because I feel even just a 7% chance at a no-brainer decision is more beneficial than a AK-brainer decision. And AK has already seen enough, whether they get 1 or 5 more of these real contests.

1. credit to Jon Greenberg of The Athletic, who wrapped his column on this win over the Heat with a plea to ownership to fire AKME.

2. full disclosure: I have not only looked at the stats skeptically…I’ve barely looked, literally, at these performances all!