Starters Playing Starter-Minutes, A Year of Boylen, LaVine's … Good Defense? And Other Bulls Bullets

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Starters Playing Starter-Minutes, A Year of Boylen, LaVine’s … Good Defense? And Other Bulls Bullets

Chicago Bulls

Yesterday, I had an internet and cable outage for basically 10 hours and – let me tell you – it SUCKED.

When you’re whole job revolves around having access to the internet, not being able to access it is pretty darn inconvenient. During my time in the dark age though, I did some soul searching. While questioning the confines of my inner self, I had one stark realization … life without the internet must have sucked, bro (Michael: I’m just now realizing that you never lived without the internet, Eli!).

  • The Bulls won a basketball game last night, so here are the highlights!

  • On today’s edition of “Things not to say in a postgame press conference:”

  • Let me bask in the glory that a team other than the Bulls finally said something stupid. Hield is currently part of an organization that hasn’t made the playoffs since 2006. I don’t know about you, but if it’s been over a decade since a franchise’s last taste of the postseason, I don’t think you’re in any position to disrespect any opponent at any time.
  • Jim Boylen actually played his starters like starters!

  • As we’ve mentioned before, Zach LaVine is currently the only Bulls player averaging over 30 minutes per game. Boylen has been sharing the wealth far too often and last night finally put a stop to it. All of the Bulls starters were on the court for over 30 minutes, and while they were all surprisingly on the negative end in the plus-minus category, that’s still refreshing to see. The Bulls starters looked relatively reliable in the fourth quarter, with Zach LaVine and Lauri Markkanen each hitting some big buckets down the stretch. While there is A LOT to still nitpick about this team, minute distribution and rotation wise, this felt like the look we should see from the Bulls, and Boylen recognized that:

  • If we’ve learned anything this season, it’s to take what Boylen says with a grain of salt. Chances are next game we’ll see Arcidiacono clock 30 minutes and Zach LaVine play center. Let’s hope this is an actual realization from the head coach though, and he can establish some level of consistent in-game management.
(Photo by Getty Images)
  • Jim Boylen’s one-year anniversary is today. How are you going to celebrate?

  • Since Boylen has taken over, the Bulls are 24-55, showing very little signs of improvement. According to NBC Sports Chicago’s K.C. Johnson, when Boylen was asked what he would tell the fans, he said: “My message is we have a young, competitive team that is working and learning. I understand your frustration with not winning more. But this is a team that is improving and trying and caring.” Yeah, sorry, that message doesn’t really do it for me. In the third year of this rebuild, the Bulls should be all about winning and nothing about this message tells me that is their top priority.
  • Hold up. You’re telling me that if you hit your three-pointers … YOU COULD WIN GAMES!? (Sorry, I had a little extra sass in my coffee this morning).

  • “Papa, tell us about what the NBA was like before Steph Curry.”

  • Yeah, yeah this is cute and all, but is Zach LaVine grabbing Daniel Gafford’s fist? It’s like when someone goes for a fist bump and you went for the handshake. Just commit.

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Together! Good W💯

A post shared by Zach LaVine (@zachlavine8) on

  • The Kings were Kingsing very hard yesterday.

  • Look Ma, I know two of those guys!!

  • Wait, what!? LaVine’s playing defense!?

Filed to: Chicago Bulls

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Author: Elias Schuster

Elias Schuster is a writer for Bleacher Nation and a human being. You can follow him on Twitter @Schuster_Elias.