CHICAGO — The megadeal between the Brooklyn Nets and Philadelphia 76ers on Thursday grabbed all the attention in the final hours before the NBA trade deadline, sending ESPN’s panel of analysts into a tizzy.
Does the addition of James Harden make the 76ers the team to beat in the Eastern Conference? Will the acquisition of Ben Simmons to a newly configured “Big Three″ get the struggling Nets back on course?
Who won the trade? And could either one challenge the defending champion Milwaukee Bucks or the conference-leading Miami Heat?
It made for a great debate and was fun to listen to on an otherwise uneventful trade-deadline day.
But the one team no one was discussing was the Chicago Bulls, who spent much of the season in the top spot in the East, had the league’s sixth-best record Thursday and were only one game behind the Heat.
In the eyes of most experts, the Bulls were back to where they were at the start of the season — a good team without the size or depth to hang with the best of the East, much less compete for an NBA title.
Injuries to Lonzo Ball and Alex Caruso turned the Bulls from the league’s best surprise through December to an afterthought in early February, while an 0-10 combined record against the 76ers, Heat, Bucks, Golden State Warriors, Phoenix Suns and Memphis Grizzlies sealed their reputation as the “Not Ready for Prime-Time Players.”
Nevertheless, Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Artūras Karnišovas opted to stay the course Thursday, showing faith in a roster he reconstructed over the last year and in four key injured players whose return before the postseason should make them whole again.
It might have been a risky move on the part of Karnišovas, but it also was telegraphed by recent remarks from coach Billy Donovan and star DeMar DeRozan, who both liked the makeup of the roster.
Karnišovas pointed to the Bulls being in the top five in offense and defense during the 16 games in which their top-five players — not including Patrick Williams, who was injured in the fifth game — played together.
That’s about one-fifth of a regular season, a small sample size to be sure. But it was obviously enough for Karnišovas to feel the Bulls have enough talent to compete in the East.
“Our record reflects it,” he said.
So he listened to calls but mostly just to see what offers would be made. It was apparent Karnišovas already had made up his mind and was willing to go with the status quo and perhaps search for bench help from the NBA version of a used CD bin — other team’s buyouts.
The return dates for Caruso, White, Williams and Derrick Jones Jr. aren’t written in stone. But let’s say conservatively they’re all back in six weeks, by March 24. That would give the Bulls 10 games to play together before the postseason begins, which should be enough to build some momentum.
But the key is keeping their heads above water until then so they don’t drop to No. 6 or lower in the conference seedings.
That’s doable with their core. The Bulls feature two of the league’s top 14 scorers in DeRozan (sixth at 27.4 points per game) and Zach LaVine (14th at 24.9) and the fifth-ranked rebounder in Nikola Vučević (11.7 per game).
Those three must lead the way until the cavalry comes back, while players such as Coby White, Javonte Green and rookie Ayo Dosunmu need to step up nightly. The Bulls also must avoid more injuries to their two leaders — they’re not good enough to win consistently when DeRozan or LaVine is out of the lineup.
A stretch of six straight home games, including four before the All-Star break, should help. But they have issues that need to be cleaned up. Since the 138-112 blowout loss to the Nets on Jan. 12, they’ve allowed an average of 117.4 points per game, fifth-worst in the league, and an opposing field goal-percentage of 49.4%, second-worst.
The Bulls sorely miss Ball’s passing, 3-point shooting and ability to disrupt opposing ballhandlers, not to mention Caruso’s pinball-like action on the defensive end, throwing himself around as if he’s made of Teflon. Their defense keyed the offense when Ball and Caruso were together, but lately it has been a matter of just trying to outscore the opposition, usually after digging themselves into an early hole.
It already has been a successful season for the Bulls in relation to the recent past. Assuming they re-sign LaVine, the future looks bright as well. Maybe we should be satisfied with that, but it’s too late now.
Karnišovas has changed the way we look at this franchise. And on Thursday the Bulls leader made a bold statement by doing absolutely nothing, showing faith in the players who got them to this point.
Asked if the words of DeRozan had factored into his decision to stand pat, Karnišovas said everyone felt the same way.
“This group has mutual feelings about where we’re at, Billy included, and our players,” he said. “Our record, 34-21, is pretty good in the East, and we’ve done it short-handed. In order to add players, we’re just going to use our injured reserves, the ones that are going to come back, and I think we’re going to be a good group getting Zo and getting Alex and getting Patrick and getting Derrick back.
“That’s what we’re looking forward to.”
