CLEVELAND — By late Thursday evening, the only acquisition Arturas Karnisovas was interested in was sleep.
Two straight days of working the phones, but unable to get a deal done by the trade deadline left the Bulls’ executive vice president of basketball operations a bit worn down.
Not that there was much time for some R&R.
Next up for Karnisovas will be exploring the buyout market. That doesn’t mean they’ll find the right piece, but they’ll at least have to go shopping.
“We’ll look at it,’’ Karnisovas said, when asked about the buyout route to add some help. “First I have to look through every trade that actually happened and what kind of rosters each team has before we look at the buyout market. So we’ll look at it for sure.’’
The position they might want to explore first? Point guard, and the latest evidence of that hole was provided in the 116-105 loss to the undermanned Nets.
The Bulls were trailing by five with just under seven minutes left, allowing a Yuta Watanabe three-pointer. No problem for a veteran-led team like the Bulls, even with their point guard-by-committee offensive approach.
Wrong. Big problems.
A Zach LaVine turnover with 6:35 left, followed by another LaVine turnover with 6:12 left. Brooklyn was unable to capitalize either time, so no harm besides the lost possession.
DeMar DeRozan then shot a three-pointer and missed, LaVine fell short on a driving floater, and then after Spencer Dinwiddie split a pair of free throws, LaVine was called for travelling, leading to another Watanabe three-pointer with 4:23 left.
Five-straight empty possessions in just over two minutes, and the Bulls then found themselves down 12 points.
An all-too familiar ending for this team, and another hint of how difficult life without Lonzo Ball continued to be.
“I still think we can get into offense better, and I don’t feel like that’s Zach’s job or responsibility, or that’s on him,’’ coach Billy Donovan said, when asked about the late-game point guard issues. “That’s on everybody collectively together. Those plays you’re talking about, he was in the middle of, but there were also some other possessions, even going to start the third quarter, where maybe Ayo [Dosunmu] or Patrick [Williams], like we didn’t get off to a good start. To me it’s more of the five guys out there.
“We don’t have Chris Paul where it’s just like, ‘I got it, go down the floor,’ and he orchestrates and gets you into whatever he wants to get you into. We have to do it together, all five guys got to take the responsibility to flow into that better. Then we’ve got to screen, we’ve got to cut, and we’ve got to move better. At times we do a really good job of it, and then other times we don’t do a consistent job of it.’’
That’s why the Bulls plan to keep an eye on the buyout market. Russell Westbrook, John Wall and Patrick Beverley are all candidates to be bought-out, so there could be options.
But are they good options?
Westbrook is a turnover machine, who would help with pacing and that’s about it. Wall is unreliable from an availability standpoint, which leaves the volatile Beverley. The Chicago native isn’t the best at conducting an offense, but he brings some much-needed attitude to a team of choir boys.
Could it be time for a homecoming? There’s not much to lose at this point, with the Bulls sitting at 26-29 and in the No. 9 hole of the Eastern Conference.
Either way, they need to get something done in that department, and sooner than later.
