The Bulls lost to the NBA’s worst team Sunday night in Sacramento, but it’s still not clear that they’re committed to a tanking strategy, writes Julia Poe of The Chicago Tribune (subscription required). The team has gone 2-11 since shaking up its roster at the trade deadline and has plummeted to 12th place in the East. However, Poe points out that puzzling lineup decisions are still being made for a team with incentive to tank.
Jalen Smith returned to the court on Sunday after missing the previous five games with a calf strain. Poe notes that the Bulls refuse to shut down Smith even though he has been in and out of the lineup over the past month. Young guard Rob Dillingham, who was acquired from Minnesota at the deadline, only saw 15 minutes against the Kings, while 30-year-old Guerschon Yabusele, who will be a free agent when the season ends, remains in the starting lineup.
Poe blames executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas for getting “queasy” any time the organization faces a major decision. She states that just as Karnisovas is hesitant to pull the trigger on trading a player, he’s also reluctant to fully commit to a tanking strategy, even when it’s obviously in the team’s best interest.
“Everything I’ve gotten here from the front office, from ownership is that we need to do the best job you can to go out there and compete and to try to win,” coach Billy Donovan said last month. “I believe in that. … That’s kind of the mentality that we have here inside the organization. We’ve always tried to keep the integrity of that anytime we go out and compete.”
There’s more on the Bulls:
- In a separate story, Poe questions why the organization is so reckless with Josh Giddey after giving him a four-year extension last summer and making him part of the foundation for the future. She notes that Giddey was reinserted into Tuesday’s loss against Oklahoma City after limping off the court with a rolled ankle a few minutes earlier. He’s also dealing with a lingering hamstring issue that’s supposed to limit his playing time to about 30 minutes per night, but Donovan doesn’t always adhere to that. Poe questions why the Bulls are taking any chances with Giddey when there’s nothing left to play for.
- The new additions to the Bulls’ roster are still getting used to the extreme up-tempo pace that Donovan prefers, observes Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times (subscription required). It was effective in Thursday’s win at Phoenix, but didn’t work as well on Sunday. “The biggest issue I think was the fact that a lot of those guys were coming from situations where they were not playing at all,” Donovan said. “Like Yabusele wasn’t playing, Nick (Richards) wasn’t playing, Rob (Dillingham) wasn’t playing, so I think the pace has been a little different. We went through some of that with Tre (Jones), Zach (Collins) and Kevin Huerter last year.”
- Donovan has fond memories of former Bulls players Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan, who both missed Sunday’s game in Sacramento, Cowley adds in another piece. “Listen, I love both those two guys. I think those guys know how I feel about them,” Donovan said. “They were totally professional, and listen when you’re dealing with high-level players like that you are not always going to see eye-to-eye on stuff, but I appreciated the conversation and the intent on their part was to really try and win. That was important to those two guys. I don’t know all the reasons it didn’t work out (here).”
Why is it that every time there is an article about the Bulls it seems like I’m watching the teacher in a Charlie Brown special. All the crap that comes out and all I hear is Wah, Wah wah wah wah. Wah Wah Wah wah wah. It’s a complete joke. All that’s missing is Snoopy on his doghouse with his snout in the air and pumping his feet.
Any business run by the Reinsdorf family will be full of puzzling decisions, logical contradictions, endless frustration, no fun, and, most importantly, a lof of profit for them and the next 20 generations of their family.
TRASH ORGANIZATION
That should be beginning and end of every story, but then the writers would be fired.
Bulls should hire Dr Steve
He knows all things about game of brasket
Bulls doing (dumb) Bulls things.
To bench Giddey and tank should be obvious.
The problem with not playing young players is loss of opportunity to develop.
A big part of Giddey’s development is running the team. IMO, he needs to get used to showing up, taking responsibility, and leading the younger players to consistency.
SGA is a great example of somebody that consistently brought intensity during early in his career, when OKC sucked. The OKC team grew a winning culture while it was losing games.
The Bulls have some nice young pieces, but watching them I get the sense it’s like a Summer League game. They’ve made no progress in changing their culture.
I think about big part of the problem is that this is a deeply unserious roster in terms of the makeup, and the players know it. You don’t build a winning culture without sharing the vision and plan of how you’ll be successful, and its very clear that the players don’t know what they’re working towards.
You make some good points. Giddey still can be more of a leader. And the Thunder are the template that most building franchises should follow.
The complicating part though for the Bulls is that aside from Giddey and Buzelis, no one else is sure to be back. All the guys on expiring contracts are likely to be gone, and even the rest of the players that have deals in place for next year may be traded. So unfortunately Donovan is limited in terms of what he can accomplish these last 20 games.
Rob Dillingham should be in the GLeague if you are only giving him 15 minutes a night. Donovan should be deported for mishandling this roster during tank season.
Dillingham should be in the G-League, but not for the reasons you think.
Bulls finally found a small guard worse than Yuki Kawamura and Mac McClung.
@aristotle
Playing Giddey when he’s banged up is risky long term. And FYI he’s started 318 out of the 322 games he’s played, his development is as on track as possible in his situation.
> his development is as on track as possible in his situation.
@NBAisOK, The kind of development that I’m referring to is the collective development of the team, not of Giddey individually.
A young team learns what it takes to win as a group, playing together. At this stage, Giddey’s development is measured by how well he leads them.
The Bulls will finish 2025-26 with, by far, their worst record in 6 seasons. Despite another year of experience for their young core, the team has regressed. It’s a losign culture.
Any and every team that plays for next year. Should be playing their young guys. And guys they traded for at TD. If they will go with them next year. All about building and getting ready for next yr. Call it what you want. At some point this year is over. So all you have is to look forward to next year. Bulls aren’t getting a top 5 pick. A top 10 pick is still a very good pick. Just don’t blow it.
So who’s getting the top 5 picks? I didn’t know the word was out already.
Really you new to this ???? The word is NotTheBulls
Only waiting Bulls are doing is on Blazers.
Hmm that surprises me. I thought the first team to be crossed off would be the Utah Dannies. And that the Bulls would get points for “ethical tanking”. I am still a babe in the woods at this.
Dude nobody cares about tanking except loser franchises. You do understand how this works. Don’t you. Bulls are 10th seed and will stay at 8-12. Which means the ping pong balls will keep you there. Go look up the Portland Trailblazers lottery pick.
The Bulls have the 9th pick and a tough remaing schedule. The Blazers have the 11th pick and one of the easiest remaining schedules.
If you want in you should get with AI S. You’re both on same level ……
Bulls own Blazers pick outside of lottery.
LOL I thought you had some inside intel on who Silver was giving the picks to this year. But you’re just reading from tankathon.com.
All you need to look at is the standings. They tell you most of the story with 16-17 gms left.
The story is who will get the good lotto balls. When I ask who knows the story the word is NotKnickerbockerAl.
They are 2-11 and looking terrible.
Before trade deadline looked good…
They are tanking no question… Playing any player with injury right now is just stupid.
Finally a team to rival the Warriors in the lack of bigs on their roster.
Richards seems ok…
The really sad part is they say they’re not tanking. So if this is really preparing for the future and trying to win, What does that REALLY say about the future? I’ll wait.