This has been a trying season for the Bulls. Injuries have ravaged them from star guard Jimmy Butler to reserve forward Cameron Bairstow, and everybody in between. After being one of the preseason favorites to challenge Cleveland in the East, Chicago is coming off a three game stretch that may have just doomed them to a spring without playoff basketball. While it isn’t “over” until they are mathematically ruled out, the Bulls have shown over this past week that they are raising the white flag on the 2015-16 season. They have thrown in the towel, and are hoping for a quick retooling, and some better luck, next season.
Waves were made this past fall when head coach Tom Thibodeau was let go to make way for Iowa State coach, and former Bull, Fred Hoiberg. Tensions between Thibs and his front office reached critical mass, even though it now seems as if he overachieved with this current roster. But still, Hoiberg was given the reins to a team with a plethora of All-Star talent and a history of being a thorn in the sides of Cleveland and other Eastern powers. Throughout the 2015 portion of this season, they were looking as if the transition was going to be smooth.
They had injuries in the early going, but the Bulls managed those periods with superb roster utilization and rotation. As the number of disabled Bulls began to outnumber those who were ambulatory, the season predictably went into free fall. They went from 10 games over .500 to just one over even in less than a month. Their once vaunted defense became a punchline. But even during this plummet down the standings they remained in the playoff hunt. That hunt has been called off after the events of the past week.
The Bulls were thoroughly outplayed in a home and home with the Knicks. As an avid supporter of the latter, it is safe to say that the blue and orange packed it in much earlier in 2016 than their opponents. They had slid from the brink of contention to elimination with little resistance. But the Bulls made them look like world beaters over the two game affair, giving up 100+ points in each game, something New York hadn’t done since the lowly Suns came to the Garden. They were as full strength a team as they have been at any point in the 2015-16 season, but were visibly disinterested once the Knicks caught fire. By the time they woke up late in both games, the deficit was too immense. But it was Saturday night’s embarrassment against Orlando that signaled their forfeiture of a playoff push.
Facing an Orlando team undermanned and underwhelmed knowing they were all but eliminated from the playoffs (which would be confirmed Sunday), Chicago came out flat and frankly never broke that funk in a 111-89 blowout loss. Getting torched by the pair of Carmelo Anthony and Kristaps Porzingis isn’t something to hang your head about. But when the eclectic quartet of Andrew Nicholson, Jason Smith, Devyn Marble, and Dewayne Dedmon are cutting you to ribbons, you’ve either gave up or you aren’t as good as advertised. While some feel, as said earlier, that Thibs turned chicken nuggets into chicken cordon bleu, Hoiberg’s squad had performed to standard before recently.
It is a shame that the Bulls are going out so meekly given their preseason expectations. They can put as much blame as they want on philosophy change or injuries, but what was on display these past three games wasn’t that of a team striving for greatness. An airing of grievances may be a Festivus tradition, but it may also be the death knell to Chicago. There is going to be significant roster turnover in the summer with some of their older pieces and if the Bulls aren’t careful, this could go from one blip on the radar to a slow rekindling of the infamous Baby Bulls of the early 2000’s. Throwing in the towel for one season is bad enough. Don’t make it for one decade.