Russell Westbrook was a real reality for the Bulls.
That in itself is concerning from the standpoint of what executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley are actually evaluating when it comes to this roster.
Before they came up for a breath from the buy-out market dive and held up Patrick Beverley as the consolation prize, the Bulls front office was all in on Westbrook.
The guard chose the Clippers, and thankfully so.
All Los Angeles has done with good ol’ Russ running the point for them is watch him run the team into the ground, losing all five games entering Saturday, while leading the team in turnovers with 22 and shooting 31.3% from three – which actually wasn’t that awful for the veteran.
But the fact that Karnisovas saw Westbrook as an answer was either out of desperation or flat-out confusion over what this team needed to make a playoff push.
Three-point shooting, ball security late in games, and untimely defensive breakdowns were just some of the major issues haunting this roster, and Westbrook would have made all three worse.
Beverley doesn’t solve the three-point shooting problem, but he has been a solid floor general, and his individual defense has been mostly stellar.
Ask Toronto’s Fred VanVleet, who was handcuffed for just three points in his showdown against Mr. Beverley last week. That’s about 17 points under his average.
Is Beverley talented enough to play savior for the fading playoff hopes? Unlikely, especially with the playoff odds now sitting at 9%, according to FiveThirtyEight. And it isn’t like the Bulls have the easiest road in front of them, either.
They have the 15th toughest schedule remaining with two games left against Philadelphia, and matchups with Milwaukee, Denver, Memphis, Sacramento and Miami awaiting them. There’s also a tricky west coast road trip to Portland, and then back-to-back games with both Los Angeles teams.
A big elephant left to eat, but one that veteran DeMar DeRozan was choosing to attack one bite at a time, starting Sunday against the Pacers.
“We gotta catch a rhythm here, but we can’t look at the whole spectrum of it,’’ DeRozan said. “We gotta take care of Sunday now. We need it. After we take care of that, we need to figure out what’s next. Obviously, [the Suns game on Friday was] a discouraging loss, but I have a hope and faith that we have a fire under us, understanding what’s ahead of us.’’
An encouraging mentality to have, but at this point of the season there are some trends that aren’t going to change with this group, no matter how many times coach Billy Donovan speaks on them.
The fact that the Bulls entered the Phoenix game last in the NBA in three-point attempts per game, and then watched the Suns out-shoot them from deep 47-23? All the great defense in the world won’t make up that deficiency.
To put in perspective just how big the gap is for the Bulls, Golden State leads the Association with 42.9 three-point attempts per game, while Donovan’s crew was at 28.6 – the only team under 30 attempts per game.
So what’s the quick fix Donovan wants to see?
“We have to change our shot profile when you’re going against an elite offensive team,’’ Donovan said. “I think getting downhill and spraying it out when we can is important.
“The only way you’re going to overcome that is either by getting an enormous amount of offensive rebounds or getting to the free-throw line.’’
