After the Bulls’ 127-120 overtime loss to the Raptors on Thursday night, it might be tempting for Arturas Karnisovas, their executive vice president of basketball operations, to start making some calls with the trade deadline less than a week away. The host Raptors grabbed 22 offensive rebounds, scoring 22 points off 17 Bulls turnovers and put up 60 points in the paint.
All of it screamed the obvious, yet again: The Bulls need to get bigger and more physical in the frontcourt.
“We got outrebounded and they out-physicaled us throughout the whole game,” guard Zach LaVine said on the same day NBA coaches chose him as an All-Star reserve. “It shouldn’t have been that close of a game to start.”
Karnisovas isn’t necessarily about to make changes — a position that hasn’t changed since last month, according to coach Billy Donovan. The Bulls (32-19) would like to add talent at the deadline, but not at the expense of chemistry.
“I would say that I would lean toward the chemistry piece,” Donovan said.
The Bulls’ big four of LaVine, guard Lonzo Ball, forward DeMar DeRozan and center Nikola Vucevic have only played 17 games together, but when they have, the results have been strong, even with an obvious lack of size at starting power forward.
“We like our group a lot, we like the chemistry a lot, we want to make sure that continues,” Donovan said. “Chemistry in the locker room is critical — it’s important. Certainly, Arturas is always going to look for ways to improve the group, but you don’t want to say, ‘OK, we’ve improved our talent, but we’re not as cohesive and the chemistry is not as good.’ So all those decisions are definitely factored in, and they’re certainly a priority.”
The good news is these Bulls and Donovan are used to trade-deadline nerves. DeRozan, Vucevic, Ball and LaVine have all been traded previously, and Karnisovas is known for his open-door policy with players.
“This time of year, there’s always going to be [tension], especially for younger players that haven’t been through this business side of it, but I think the front office, Arturas and [general manager] Marc [Eversley], have done a really, really good job where if players have questions, then they have the freedom to go up there and speak to them about different things,” Donovan said.
That policy that could be tested next week. The only test Thursday was the Raptors (27-23). DeRozan tied the game with 47.8 seconds left in regulation, and Vucevic, who finished with 30 points and 18 rebounds, gave the Bulls the lead with 8.6 seconds left. But Scottie Barnes got a tip-in for the Raptors to send it to overtime, and the Bulls seemed to finally hit the wall.
With the game tied with 1:44 left, Barnes hit the tough 4-footer. Gary Trent Jr. followed with a huge three with 16.5 seconds left on a blown defensive switch by LaVine and Vucevic.
LaVine has been dealing with back spasms the last two games but didn’t offer that as an excuse.
“They ran a stack action, and we didn’t defend it right,” he said of Trent’s dagger. “It’s just bad communication at the wrong point of the game.”
