Following a crushing three-point home loss to Indiana, DeMar DeRozan admits he’s exasperated with the Bulls’ inability to gain any traction in the Eastern Conference standings, Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times writes.
“It’s beyond frustrating that we lost again,’’ DeRozan said. “It’s overly frustrating to lose, especially when we say it’s a must-win. We’re making our own bed. We can’t complain about it. We’ve got to figure out these last games to dig us out of this hole and put ourselves in a position to make something out of it.’’
We have more on the Bulls:
- Going along with that theme, impending free agent Nikola Vucevic admits it’s tough to imagine things turning around the rest of the season, according to Darnell Mayberry of The Athletic. “It doesn’t really depend on us anymore,” Vucevic said. “I mean, it does. We have to win. But we’re depending on the people in front of us, on how they do. So it’s hard to say after 65 games we didn’t figure it out. It’s tough to believe that something’s just going to (click) like that. We’ll see. We’re going to keep fighting, keep hoping something happens. But it’s obvious we’ve put ourselves in a very difficult spot now.”
- Adding to the frustration is that Zach LaVine has been on his best offensive tear of the season, Cowley notes in a separate story. Over the last 10 games, he’s averaging just under 29 points per game while shooting 51.6% from the field and 42.9% on 3-point attempts. Chicago is 3-7 during that stretch.
- Javonte Green “continues to progress” in his rehab but there’s no timetable for his return, according to a team press release. His status will be updated in approximately two weeks. Green underwent arthroscopic surgery to his right knee on Jan. 11 and coach Billy Donovan acknowledged over the weekend that Green is still struggling to make lateral movements.
Bulls have too many offense first players. That is all. Too bad management couldn’t be honest with themselves and make a trade just to shake up what “just ain’t working.”
I know DeRozan is going to LA next yr. But I’d like to see the Knicks sign him …..
He’s not a free agent next year so that might be a hard task to pull off
Ok ….. I thought he was. He’ll still be available thru a trade. Since it’s his last yr. I don’t think he’s a Bull next yr. Bulls would be wise to get younger.
Al, honestly you act like you are an insider but you don’t know something publicly available like end dates of player contracts?
I like your feel for the game but you need to tone down the superiority complex. And again, to repeat, I agree with your comment.
Bulls Doctors strike again. I wouldn’t let them take my blood pressure. They’d probably pop my arm like a zit.
not a Bulls fan but they should have sold at the deadline
Or never put together this type of roster to begin with. It was never set to get the team very far, even with a healthy Lonzo. Just not a good enough fit
Derozan and Lavine can’t be on the same team and that team be a winner, have to trade Demar this off-season, Vuc and Zach is fine if you surround them with capable defenders, also since it’s 2023 they need to give Zach help with 3 pt shooting since we take a 1994 amount of 3s every game, also must stop letting Billy only play guys who are 6’4” at power forward and backup center, simple fixes I’ll do it for a third of what AK is gettin paid no worries
LaVine should be the one traded and not DD.
The Bull’s front office should have sold and gotten the brat packages they could have but now they’re stuck between a rock and a hard place.
Unfortunately DeRozan is the one blocking development (Patrick Williams as a SF) and the one with more trade return value currently.
I know athletes are prone to saying the absolute wrong thing when asked regularly to give their not carefully considered insight on a regular basis, but Vucevic saying “it doesn’t really depend on us anymore” when asked about the team turning around its season to get to the playoffs is some curious irresponsibility.
Was he really trying to say they have to hope other teams lose more often than they do? Was he referring to games all being in referees’ hands to decide? Where was he going with that statement?
Sure looks like you didn’t read the whole statement…
no I got that, I just can’t believe he didn’t start saying that and looked for some excuse for why that was coming out of his mouth that would cover up what he was thinking. How can he say that and not hear how moronic it is to hear an athlete suggest he has no way to influence his team making it to the playoffs?
Chicago could have had a deal for Derozan so he isn’t sitting on his couch for the playoffs.
Its their only shot at getting a pick in this year’s draft. Seems unfair to Derozan this late in his career, and delaying the inevitable