The Athletic’s Darnell Mayberry dropped some major news late Saturday night.
According to the Bulls beat reporter, Coby White and Wendell Carter Jr. will be moved out of the starting lineup in favor of veterans Tomas Satoransky and Thaddeus Young.
The Bulls coach has made preparations to alter his starting five, a source said, with Tomáš Satoranský and Thaddeus Youngreplacing Coby White and Wendell Carter Jr.
The Bulls have lost four of five and have struggled with slow starts. They own a minus-17.6 net rating with White, Carter, Zach LaVine, Patrick Williams and Lauri Markkanen as their customary starting five.
Donovan plans to alter the starting lineup in the Bulls’ home game Sunday against Toronto, a source said.
Wow.
While this decision is easily justifiable, it still comes as a pretty huge surprise. The Bulls were clearly invested in a mixture of winning games and player development at the start of the season, which unsurprisingly involved the Bulls youngest talent being placed in the starting lineup to battle the opposing team’s best talent. However, now officially halfway through the season, it appears Donovan has decided that this is no longer the best way for the Bulls to accomplish their long-term goals. Now, if this report is accurate, White will return to his rookie role as a sparkplug scorer for the second unit, and Carter will hunt for new life, as Sunday’s game would be his first-ever appearance off the bench.
As Mayberry points out, lineup stats have done nothing but suggest that a change was needed. The Bulls inexperienced starting squad has continuously struggled to mesh, and it has resulted in the bench playing a pivotal role in keeping this Bulls team in each and every ballgame. Whereas the Bulls traditional starting lineup of White, LaVine, Williams, Markkanen, and Carter have a -17.6 Net Rating, the five-man combination of Satoransky, LaVine, Temple, Williams, and Young has a 28.1 Net Rating. Of course, that lineup doesn’t feature Markkanen, but it at least somewhat demonstrates the positive impact bench vets like Satoransky and Young have had on this team.
The group of LaVine, Young, and Satoransky, specifically, have also proven to be an effective trio, as that three-man combination has a +19.1 when sharing the court, per Basketball-Reference.
At the end of the day, this is a huge decision with the trade deadline only seven games away, and it could tell us quite a bit about what this organization is thinking about the team’s current situation. For the sake of simplicity – and my tired typing fingers (it’s past midnight, people), I’m just going to list some of the things I believe this decision could indicate:
• The Bulls want to win. Stopping this youthful starting lineup experiment could very well signify that this front office and coaching staff is invested in making a playoff push. Sitting 16-20 in the Eastern Conference in the 11th seed, they are only one spot out of cracking the play-in tournament. Whether it be on the bench or playing with the starters, a playoff berth can do wonders for a group of young players. Not to mention, an organization that is trying to revamp its identity and attack potential free agents.
• Even if the Bulls do keep losing, at least putting Satoransky and Young in their starting lineup can further showcase their talents to opposing organizations. And while reports suggest that a player like Young is off the table, that could be just a hardball tactic.
• Donovan is teaching his young players a lesson. Who’s to say how long this reported change will last. By moving both White and Carter to the bench, he is simply reminding them that they aren’t going to be rewarded with a starting spot in the NBA just for the hell of it. You got to play better.
• The front office is unsure about White’s future at point guard. Again, we don’t know how long this change will last, but moving White back to the bench does tell us that point guard could become a point of emphasis in free agency (or maybe even the trade deadline?).
Anyway, more tomorrow (er, I guess, later today)!