Coby White Available To Make Hornets Debut Tuesday
For the first time in his NBA career, Coby White will play for a team besides the Bulls on Tuesday. However, the setting will be a familiar one. The seventh-year guard, who was traded from Chicago to Charlotte at this month’s deadline, will be making his Hornets debut at the Bulls’ United Center, his former home arena (Twitter link).
White, who turned 26 last Monday, was selected seventh overall in the 2019 draft by the Bulls and spent six-and-a-half seasons with the team before being sent to the Hornets in a four-player deadline deal that also saw Chicago acquire two second-round picks.
The Hornets were originally going to include three second-rounders in their package for White, but after a physical revealed a left calf injury that would sideline him for a few more weeks, the two teams agreed to amend the deal to remove one of those draft picks. White has now recovered from that calf injury and is ready to take the floor against his old team.
While White has been limited to 29 outings this season due to calf issues, he has remained an effective offensive weapon when healthy, averaging 18.6 points, 4.7 assists, and 3.7 rebounds in 29.1 minutes per game with a .438/.346/.805 shooting line.
Speaking on Tuesday to reporters, including Joel Lorenzi of The Athletic (Twitter link), White – who is on an expiring contract – said he and the Bulls talked earlier in the season about a possible future together beyond this year. However, he passed on an extension and said today that he expected to be traded at the deadline after word broke that the team had agreed to send out Kevin Huerter and Nikola Vucevic in separate deals.
“Things change,” he said. “The way the season was going, we weren’t stacking enough wins consistently.”
Tuesday’s matchup will feature two teams going in opposite directions. The Bulls are on a nine-game losing streak and are still seeking their first victory of the month, while the Hornets have bounced back from a 4-14 start to go 23-17 since then, with 11 wins in their past 14 games.
Fischer’s Latest: Antetokounmpo, Morant, Bulls, Yabusele
The rumors circulating about the Bucks trading Giannis Antetokounmpo didn’t amount to anything at the February 5 deadline, but that will only postpone speculation about Antetokounmpo’s future in Milwaukee rather than ending it.
Jake Fischer, writing for The Stein Line (Substack link), says his sources around the situation still believe that a move to what he calls “a true title contender” is the most likely outcome for Giannis this summer, especially since many of those contenders will be able to offer more than they did at the deadline.
According to Fischer, many people around the league are also expecting the Nets to emerge as a legitimate suitor for the two-time MVP, either using a package built around Michael Porter Jr. and draft picks or one that keeps Porter in Brooklyn.
Fischer adds that how teams like the Rockets and Spurs fare in the playoffs could impact Antetokounmpo’s trade market too.
We have more from around the league:
- Ja Morant wasn’t traded at the deadline, with reports indicating that the Grizzlies weren’t ready to accept a package similar to the one the Hawks received for Trae Young. While there wasn’t a strong market for the Memphis point guard at the deadline, multiple teams believe that the Bucks have real interest in bringing Morant in, Fischer reports, whether as a successor to Antetokounmpo in their next phase of team-building or as a complement to him.
- Trade deadline moves by the Wizards and Jazz reduced the future financial flexibility of two of the projected cap space teams in 2026, leaving Chicago, Brooklyn, and the two Los Angeles teams as the summer’s probable cap room clubs. According to Fischer, the Bulls have signaled that their primary directive in free agency will be going after wings. The list of free agent wings ranges from unrestricted veterans like Khris Middleton and Tobias Harris to younger restricted FAs such as Bennedict Mathurin and Tari Eason. In addition to wings, the guard-heavy Bulls will also need to find a starting center.
- After removing his second-year player option in order to facilitate a trade from the Knicks to the Bulls, Guerschon Yabusele is expected to have a competitive EuroLeague market this summer, Fischer writes, noting that the French forward had considered signing with the Nuggets prior to joining the Knicks.
Bulls Notes: Simons, Ivey, Huerter, Tanking
Anfernee Simons will miss the Bulls‘ matchup against the Knicks on Sunday with a left wrist sprain, according to Joel Lorenzi of The Athletic (Twitter link). Simons left Saturday’s loss to the Pistons after just 13 minutes due to the injury.
According to head coach Billy Donovan, Simons will undergo imaging on the wrist on Monday, and it’s entirely possible that the “sprained wrist” diagnosis will change following the results of those tests (Twitter link via Lorenzi). Donovan said the Bulls don’t currently know the severity of the injury.
Prior to Saturday, Simons had played five games with the Bulls after being acquired in a deal that sent Nikola Vucevic to the Celtics. In those five games, he averaged 17.4 points, 3.6 assists, and 3.0 rebounds with a .446/.327/1.000 shooting line.
We have more from the Bulls:
- Chicago’s trade deadline was filled with moves designed to secure the best possible lottery odds this summer, but the acquisition of Jaden Ivey was one of the few forward-facing moves they made in terms of adding personnel. Ivey’s recent injury status makes that calculation more complicated, especially given his impending free agency, writes The Chicago Tribune’s Julia Poe. However, despite Ivey’s comments about his body not feeling the same following knee and leg injuries, Poe says there’s cautious optimism from the team’s coach about his ability to recapture his old form. “There’s a feeling that if he can get some more strength back then he can get back to where he was athletically,” Donovan said. “He knows that he’s not as explosive as he once was, but I don’t think that means that he can’t get back to that point. A big part of that is going to be him getting stronger.” According to Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times, Ivey’s former coach, J.B. Bickerstaff, agrees with Donovan, but adds that the most important part of the process is mental. “We expected a full recovery, but the timing you never know; it’s something you can never know,” Bickerstaff said. “And then the part for him is believing and trusting in it. That happens with the injury, too, especially when you’re explosive and your athleticism is so unique. You’ve got to find that trust back in it.”
- Kevin Huerter recently spoke about the trade that sent him from the Bulls to the Pistons, Cowley writes. One thing he touched on was the lack of clarity in Chicago about whether the team would compete or move into a rebuilding phase. “We talked about it [as a team], and we just didn’t know,” Huerter said. “We were sitting at .500 most of the year. It could have gone either way. As players, you have to expect everything, but seven or eight trades, whatever it was, I don’t know if anyone expected that.” While the move to the East-leading Pistons came as a surprise, the 27-year-old shooting guard is grateful for the opportunity it has provided him. “The transition, it’s always tough in season, even coming here last year, it was tough to move everything, your whole life, in about a week,” he said. “But you’re going to a team like this, No. 1 in the East, and they just compete their ass off.”
- The Bulls are behind the eight ball when it comes to maximizing their 2026 draft lottery odds, Poe writes, noting that Chicago has the ninth-worst record in the league at 24-33 and might have a hard time dropping any further than that. Poe suggests the belated effort to tank has something in common with vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas‘ habit of not dealing players until after their value has started to decline. Still, Poe writes that the move to begun the next era of Bulls basketball is the right one, given the depth and promise of the 2026 draft class.
Bulls Shut Down Zach Collins; Ivey Out At Least Two Weeks
The Bulls are shutting down big man Zach Collins for the remainder of the season, the team announced (via Twitter).
Collins, who has been out with a right toe sprain, underwent further evaluation from training and medical professionals. They decided that Collins needed surgery to fix the problem.
Chicago coach Billy Donovan said earlier this month that Collins, who injured his toe on Dec. 27, might not return.
‘‘That could happen,” Donovan said. “As they put him two more weeks into the boot, I think how he comes out of that is going to tell a lot. He’s going to need a ramp-up period in order to run. . . . . The whole thing right now has been trying to prevent surgery.’
Prior to that injury, Collins missed the first six weeks of the season with a wrist injury. He wound up appearing in just 10 games this season, averaging 9.7 points and 5.6 rebounds. The veeteran forward/center appeared in a total of 64 games with San Antonio and Chicago last season.
Collins will be an unrestricted free agent this summer and will likely need to take a big pay cut to stay in the league. He signed a two-year, $34.8MM extension with San Antonio during the fall of 2023.
Additionally, the Bulls announced that guard Jaden Ivey will be reevaluated in two weeks.
Ivey, who was traded by the Pistons earlier this month, is experiencing left knee soreness. He has appeared in four games since the trade, including three starts, and is averaging 11.5 points, 4.8 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 2.0 steals in 28 minutes per game with Chicago.
Ivey suffered a fractured left leg midway through the 2024/25 season with Detroit and missed some time early this season due soreness in his right knee. He underwent surgery on that knee in mid-October and mentioned after receiving a DNP-CD this week that he’s still feeling some soreness.
Ivey will be a restricted free agent after the season if the Bulls issue an $8.77MM qualifying offer. If the team passes on that QO, he would be an unrestricted free agent.
Bulls Notes: Ivey, Giddey, Jones, Buzelis, Deadline Moves
Guard Jaden Ivey, a trade deadline acquisition, received a DNP-CD on Thursday amid a crowded Bulls backcourt. The former fifth overall pick, who will be a restricted free agent this summer, gave some eyebrow-raising quotes after the game about his lack of explosiveness this season, which he said was a result of ongoing knee soreness.
Billy Donovan didn’t coach Thursday’s loss to Toronto due to the death of his father, but he was back at practice on Friday and discussed the Ivey situation, according to Joel Lorenzi of The Athletic (Twitter video link). While Ivey did not participate in Friday’s practice because his knee was being evaluated, Donovan said he supported Wes Unseld Jr.‘s decision not to play the 24-year-old.
“To me, I don’t think he’s played at the level that he’s capable of playing at or has played at,” Donovan said of Ivey. “ … I don’t how much (knee soreness) is affecting him. He was definitely available to play.”
Ivey has been listed as questionable for Saturday’s game against Detroit — his former team — due to patellofemoral pain syndrome in his left knee, tweets K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Sports Network. That injury, which is also known as runner’s knee, is the same issue which continues to sideline Stephen Curry.
We have more from Chicago:
- Point guards Josh Giddey and Tre Jones returned to action on Thursday after they missed time due to left hamstring strains. Both players came away from the game unscathed and think they’ll be available to play both ends of this weekend’s back-to-back, per Johnson (Twitter links).
- After a major roster overhaul at the deadline, second-year forward Matas Buzelis is one of the most tenured players on the team. In a Q&A with Cyro Asseo of HoopsHype, Buzelis said he’s working to become a leader in Chicago. “I talked to Billy about it, how I need to be more vocal as a player and I need to speak to guys,” Buzelis said. “You know, guys don’t know sets, guys don’t know the defense and I have to be more vocal every time I step on the court to try to help my team win. And you know, I feel like I have, I wouldn’t say pressure, but I can’t find the word right now, I have to talk to everybody more. I have to be communicating on defense for us and also put on an example in the gym of, you know, how I work. And that’s all it takes for some guys, just to see how guys work and they can put it into their game.”
- Lorenzi of The Athletic lists three burning questions the Bulls will face after making seven deals prior to the deadline, including how the team will juggle the backcourt rotation when all six guards on standard contracts are healthy. Yossi Gozlan of The Third Apron, meanwhile, tries to make sense of the team’s deadline moves, some of which he views positively (adding two second-round picks for taking on Dario Saric‘s contract), and some he does not (waiting too long to trade Coby White).
Ivey Gets DNP-CD With Bulls’ Crowded Backcourt Healthy
With Josh Giddey and Tre Jones back in action on Thursday following injury absences, Jaden Ivey was the odd man out in a crowded Bulls backcourt. Ivey, who started three of four games and averaged 28.8 minutes per night for Chicago prior to the All-Star break, didn’t play at all in a home loss to Toronto and said after the game that he thought it was the first DNP-CD of his career, per Joel Lorenzi of The Athletic.
Bulls assistant Wes Unseld Jr., acting as head coach with Billy Donovan away from the team following the death of his father, explained that it was “strictly a basketball decision” necessitated by having a fully healthy backcourt, as well as a desire to have Giddey and Jones play regular roles in their first game back.
“I talked to several guys (Thursday) morning, and then I addressed the team about it, and it’s just a byproduct of where we are in our composition,” Unseld told reporters.
Giddey and Jones, who were on minutes restrictions, played 21 and 22 minutes respectively, while recent trade acquisition Anfernee Simons logged 31. Collin Sexton and Rob Dillingham, the team’s other newly added guards, played 15 and 10 minutes off the bench.
As Lorenzi writes, the usage of the guards seemed to be at odds with the Bulls’ actions earlier this month at a busy trade deadline. With its seven deadline deals, Chicago appeared prepared to pivot toward its younger players, but Simons and Sexton – veterans on expiring contracts – are ahead of Ivey, a restricted-free-agent-to-be, and second-year guard Dillingham on the depth chart for now.
Asked after the game about his DNP-CD, Ivey offered little clarity, according to Lorenzi, who says the former Piston repeatedly referenced his faith and declared that he doesn’t “really trust the NBA setting.”
“When moves are made behind the scenes, trades and stuff,” Ivey replied when asked what he meant. “I don’t trust that part of (it). I mean, you can’t trust it, because it’s not in your hands. So it’s not in my hands to make moves, or trade myself.”
Ivey later said he was told the decision to sit him on Thursday was the result of “a series of things,” including ongoing knee soreness that he referred to as something he’s been dealing with “for years.” The fourth-year guard underwent surgery on his right knee in October that delayed his season debut, but he hasn’t been listed on the injury report recently and said that soreness isn’t something that will “keep me from doing my job.”
Still, there have been some questions this season about whether Ivey is at 100% after returning from a broken left leg that ended his 2024/25 season, as well as that right knee surgery. He played a reduced role in Detroit (16.8 MPG) prior to the trade and didn’t look like his old explosive self. Asked if there are still health-related steps to take before he regains his former athleticism, Ivey offered an eyebrow-raising response, Lorenzi notes.
“I’m sure people can call it out — I’m not the same player I used to be,” he said. “(The knee soreness is) why. I’m not the J.I. I used to be. The old J.I. is dead. I’m alive in Christ no matter what the basketball setting is.”
As Lorenzi observes, it’s possible the Bulls will adjust their rotation going forward and Ivey’s DNP-CD ends up being a one-off that’s quickly forgotten. But based on Thursday’s usage, it doesn’t appear at this point that developing Ivey and Dillingham is a top priority for the team.
Injury Notes: Giddey, Zubac, Toppin, Porzingis, Young
Bulls point guard Josh Giddey has been out since January 28 with a left hamstring strain, but he went through a full practice on Wednesday and expects to make his return on Thursday vs. Toronto, tweets K.C. Johnson of the Chicago Sports Network.
It will be Giddey’s first game since Chicago overhauled its backcourt by trading Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu, and Dalen Terry and waiving Jevon Carter while bringing in Anfernee Simons, Collin Sexton, Jaden Ivey, and Rob Dillingham.
We have more injury updates from around the NBA:
- Pacers center Ivica Zubac was a limited participant in Tuesday’s practice and both he and forward Obi Toppin (foot surgery) are making “steady” progress in their injury recoveries, head coach Rick Carlisle said on Tuesday. However, neither player is all that close to seeing the floor. As Dustin Dopirak of The Indianapolis Star writes, Carlisle said “it’s gonna be a while” before either Zubac or Toppin returns.
- Kristaps Porzingis practiced with the Warriors on Tuesday and “looked good,” according to head coach Steve Kerr, who said on decision on the big man’s availability for Thursday’s matchup with Boston will be made after Wednesday’s scrimmage (Twitter link via Nick Friedell of The Athletic).
- Point guard Trae Young, who has yet to make his Wizards debut after being traded to Washington over a month ago, didn’t practice on Wednesday and still hasn’t been cleared for contact, per head coach Brian Keefe (Twitter link via Josh Robbins of The Athletic). Young has been listed on the injury report as recovering from a right MCL sprain and a quad contusion.
Central Notes: Mitchell, Harden, Bickerstaff, Dillingham, Brown
Donovan Mitchell doesn’t have any concerns about how he and James Harden will mesh in the Cavaliers’ new starting backcourt, he told Marc J. Spears of Andscape.
“I’ve never played with a guy like James Harden. I never had a guy like that on my team,” Mitchell said. “And we’re not here to figure out like who’s bigger, better or whatever. How are we going to win? And I think having that relationship helps. But it also speaks to the type of people that he and I are. We’re trying to figure what’s right. For him to go out there and say he’s trying to help me, that’s huge. That’s huge for everything. … Winning is the end-all, right? I’m not worried about how we’ll fit and how we’ll coexist because we have the same goal in mind, and it doesn’t matter how we get there. We just want to get there.”
Mitchell also touched on a number of other topics in a monthly diary, including his feelings on the sad way Chris Paul‘s career ended.
Here’s more from the Central Division:
- Following J.B. Bickerstaff‘s dismissal as head coach of the Cavaliers after the 2023/24 season, he wasn’t sure if he’d ever get another opportunity, he told Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com. “I didn’t think I was going to get a job,” he said. “There weren’t jobs available at that point. So I was just sitting at home and hanging out with my family back in Cleveland trying to figure out what was next.” New Pistons president of basketball operations Trajan Langdon soon offered him a head coaching job within the division. He learned from his days in Cleveland how to improve in his next stop. “That month that I had off gave me an opportunity to, like, evaluate myself and think about what I was going to be at the next opportunity and just understanding that the focus should always be on the process and not just focused on the results,” he said. “In my last year in Cleveland, I let that get the best of me, where it was like results, results, results. And we skipped some of the process stuff.”
- Rob Dillingham, a 2024 lottery selection, had trouble cracking the Timberwolves’ rotation and earning sustained minutes. After getting traded to the Bulls, Dillingham is getting a longer look from coach Billy Donovan, though he’ll still likely have to fight for playing time when the team’s backcourt gets healthy, notes Joe Cowley of the Chicago Sun-Times. Dillingham has averaged 11.0 points, 4.0 assists, 3.7 assists, 2.0 steals and 2.3 turnovers in 24.7 minutes per game over three appearances. “His job and responsibility is to generate shots for guys when he gets (inside) and understand the shots where he has angles and can shoot a high percentage on and the shots he can’t,” Donovan said. “It’s not like I’m giving him free rein, we need him downhill, but he also can’t be jumping off two feet, getting caught in the air, trying to shoot over guys, trying to throw passes that aren’t there. He’s got to clean that up and we’ve got to help him do it. What I don’t want him to do is not be aggressive or be afraid to attack. He has to attack. He just has to make better decisions, and I think that will come in time.”
- Along with acquiring Ivica Zubac from the Clippers, the Pacers added guard Kobe Brown in the deal. Brown was only averaging 8.7 minutes in L.A. but could see his minutes jump the remainder of the season with Indiana. “I’m grateful, for sure. Grateful to be in this position,” he told Tony East of CircleCitySpin.com. “I feel like this team is a great team. Obviously, they were just in the Finals last year and were so close to winning it. And for them to want me here is big. So I’m happy and excited to be here and be a part of it.” Brown has played in two games with Indiana thus far, including a start against Brooklyn on Wednesday.
Central Notes: Cunningham, Bickerstaff, Siakam, Bulls
Pistons guard Cade Cunningham will make his second straight All-Star appearance on Sunday. He tells Marc J. Spears of Andscape that being selected to the 2026 exhibition was one of his long-term goals, as the mini-tournament is being held at the Intuit Dome, where the men’s basketball competition will take place at the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles.
“The L.A. All-Star Game was part of that plan,” Cunningham said. “I wanted to make sure I’m in there. And then win a championship and be an Olympic point guard. It’s all part of the long-term plan, for sure.”
Cunningham is having an excellent all-around season for Detroit, averaging 25.3 points, 9.6 assists, 5.6 rebounds and 1.5 steals on .462/.330/.802 shooting through 46 games (34.9 minutes per game). Head coach J.B. Bickerstaff made sure to point out that Cunningham excels on both ends of the court for the top-seeded Pistons.
“He is a [6-foot-6] point guard who dominates all areas of the offensive end of the floor,” Bickerstaff told Andscape. “But what I don’t think people talk about enough is his defense, his willingness to guard the other team’s best players.
“The impact that he has on that end of the floor – to me, he’s one of the top five two-way players in our league. There may be some guys that they talk about offensively, but his impact is on both ends of the floor. There’s not many guys in this league that are that way.”
Here’s more from around the Central:
- In an interview with Steve Bulpett of Heavy.com, Bickerstaff said he didn’t expect to be hired by the Pistons in the 2024 offseason after being let go by the Cavaliers. “I didn’t think I was going to get a job,” Bickerstaff told Heavy Sports. “There weren’t jobs available at that point. So I was just sitting at home and hanging out with my family back in Cleveland trying to figure out what was next. We were going to move to San Clemente, California. There’s a soccer academy there, and we were going to go there and let the kids go to the academy and train.” Bickerstaff has spearheaded a dramatic turnaround in Detroit, and he says he was able to grow from the experience of being fired by the Cavaliers. “That month that I had off gave me an opportunity to, like, evaluate myself and think about what I was going to be at the next opportunity and just understanding that the focus should always be on the process and not just focused on the results,” he said. “In my last year in Cleveland, I let that get the best of me, where it was like results, results, results. And we skipped some of the process stuff.”
- Pacers star Pascal Siakam recently spoke to Mark Medina of EssentiallySports at the Basketball Without Borders All-Star camp at the Lakers’ practice facility. Siakam was introduced to the NBA world when he attended a BWB camp in Africa in 2012. “I saw Luol Deng. I saw Serge Ibaka. I saw NBA players at that time. I thought, ‘This is cool.’ I saw NBA coaches. I had never been exposed to the NBA beforehand. I think that was my first time,” Siakam said. “I think I will always remember those memories and see how excited we were to get the opportunity. After that, my love for the game grew. We’re here now.” The All-Star forward also discussed his growth as a vocal leader, Tyrese Haliburton‘s impact on the team as he recovers from a torn Achilles tendon, and his excitement about playing with new starting center Ivica Zubac, among other topics.
- Joe Cowley of The Chicago Sun-Times grades the Bulls‘ trade deadline moves, giving the front office a D-plus because the series of transactions “came at least a season too late.”
Bulls Notes: Ivey, Dillingham, McClung, Guards
The Bulls have positioned themselves as the league’s preeminent “second draft” team, Fred Katz writes for The Athletic, referencing recent moves for young players in need of a change of scenery.
One such player is the newly acquired Jaden Ivey, who came to Chicago in a three-team trade involving Kevin Huerter. Like Josh Giddey when he was acquired by the Bulls, Ivey is nearing restricted free agency and had lost clarity in his role with the highly successful team that drafted him — though in Ivey’s case, that was due in large part to the broken leg that sidelined him for much of last season.
Ivey is not in a position where he’ll be handed control of the Bulls’ offense, Katz writes, especially with the number of guards on the roster, but that doesn’t mean he won’t be in a position to excel.
Katz notes that Ivey has shot the three exceptionally well since the start of last season, and the Bulls, who traded two free agent-to-be point guards at the deadline, will have ample cap space this summer. If Ivey can return to his physical form while continuing to shoot at a high level, there could be a spot for him next to Giddey in the backcourt.
We have more from the Bulls:
- Another new addition to the Bulls’ backcourt is second-year guard Rob Dillingham. Head coach Billy Donovan has been impressed by Dillingham’s speed and ability to penetrate the defense but wants much more from him as a processor of the game. “The decision-making, the shots that he’s taking, are not sustainable. And I told him that,” Donovan said, per The Athletic’s Joel Lorenzi (Twitter link). “His job and responsibility is to generate shots for guys when he gets there… it’s not like I’m giving him free rein. We need him downhill, but he also can’t be jumping off of two feet, getting caught in the air, shooting over guys, trying to throw passes that aren’t there. He’s gotta clean that up, and we’ve gotta help him do it.” Donovan added that he wants Dillingham to maintain his level of aggression and that he believes the young guard will find that balance with time.
- Chicago recently signed three-time Dunk Contest champion Mac McClung to a two-way deal, which represents the latest step towards McClung reaching his dream of carving out a role for himself in the NBA. The 27-year-old guard turned down highly lucrative offers overseas to play in the G League and stay ready for his call-up, Anthony Olivieri writes for ESPN. “This [NBA quest] is where my heart’s at,” McClung said. “… You can’t keep telling me no forever.”
- The Bulls players know that the team they’re on is strangely constructed and not built for longevity, Lorenzi writes, but that just makes the challenge for players like Anfernee Simons more interesting. “This not a normal situation,” Simons said earlier in the week, shaking his head. “Seven new guys, six of them are playing heavy minutes and we have to just learn on the fly like that. It’s just gonna take tons of communication. Experience. Just going through it together with mistakes and everything… Obviously, we want to win. That’s the end goal. Right now is the time that we learn each other and learn from our mistakes and just try to build something from there.” With Simons, the maniacally competitive Collin Sexton, and Ivey all in contract years, the team is loaded with new guards who will be motivated to perform at a high level in the next couple months. The team will likely lose many games, but it won’t be for lack of trying on the part of the players.