I wanted last night to be the perfect first date. Effortless conversation, delicious food, and instant chemistry. Instead, when I strolled in with hopes high and plenty of flowers to give, I was greeted by a long table of extended family.
Don’t get me wrong, there are good things about a family dinner. But whereas the perfect first date only gets better as it goes, a family dinner can slowly open old wounds. The Chicago Bulls wasted absolutely no time getting at each other after their embarrassing 124-104 loss. Frustration with a 41.5 percent shooting effort boiled over into the first players-only meeting of the season.
On one hand, the Chicago Bulls tried. They shot 42 threes and won the offensive rebounding battle 13-5. Coby White and Zach LaVine attempted to get into the teeth of the defense, as overall shades of the new offensive identity this team hopes to instill were there. On the other hand, it was more of the same. A Chicago Bulls staple from last season was crumbling in the second half. OKC dropped 63 points over the final two frames and shot 58.5 percent from the field. Meanwhile, the Bulls’ offense lacked consistent off-ball movement and repeatedly failed to take advantage of the mismatches Nikola Vucevic had down low.
A game like this didn’t change any minds about this “Big 3” finally working out. The fact of the matter is that the fit proved to be below-average at best last season, and it remains hard to believe that will suddenly change in Year 3. As much as I do like the idea of this uptempo and quick-decision offense, last night just makes it so hard to believe this group can ever truly implement it. Two of the Bulls’ top three players have built a career off playing a slower-paced game that hunts shots in the paint. Nikola Vucevic is used to his PnR play and post-up opportunities. DeMar DeRozan is used to his ISO possessions and mid-range jumpers. When adversity strikes – like it did in the second half of last night – these are the things that each of these players are going to default to.
Nikola Vucevic is seemingly the one who had the most to say after last night’s game. The big man reportedly led the charge in the locker room post-game, per Shams Charania, and we also saw him have a heated exchange on the bench with head coach Billy Donovan. I understand his frustration, to an extent. OKC had a rookie and a sophomore manning the center position, which undoubtedly gave Vucevic the upper hand. In no way should he have shot just 8 attempts on the night. The Bulls must do a better job feeding the interior and recognizing when Vucevic has sealed off his defenders.
At the same time, I get that vibe that Vucevic just doesn’t like his current role. We watched him pass up a couple of 3-point attempts last night, which BlogABull did a great job displaying in their article here. He also just needs to control his emotions better. The technical he got in the third quarter was extremely silly, especially considering he scored with a little hook shot on the previous possession! I know he went a long time without getting the ball, but the Bulls were right in that game with the score just 79-78. When he goes over the bench in a moment like that and has a heated exchange with his head coach, it can change the whole vibe of the game.
Indeed, both head coach Billy Donovan and Nikola Vucevic commented on that exchange after the game. Here is part of what Donovan had to say …
“He’s probably not wrong for feeling the way he did,” Donovan told reporters. “But how do you channel that in a way that kind of galvanizes the group and lifts them up? Maybe I could have handled it better with him and maybe he could have handled it better with me. It wasn’t anything disrespectful … But there has got to be a way that we can together solve those issues and problems.”
Here is some of what Vucevic had to say (full video from CHGO here) …
“Unhappy with some of the stuff we were doing,” Vucevic said. “I obviously expressed it a little more aggressive than I should have in the moment of the game. Heated moment. You’re trying to win. You’re trying to do what you can to help the team win. And I didn’t like what was going on … it wasn’t so much my touches, I think just stuff that we were running that could have been better in the moment.”
While we’re on the topic of what the team said after that embarrassing loss, I present to you Zach LaVine’s commentary!
LaVine: "Don't feel like we played with enough heart. It's a terrible way to come out and start the season." pic.twitter.com/1mIwx0mkH8— Bulls Talk (@NBCSBulls) October 26, 2023
While I’m glad he sounds upset, the fact he has to call this team out for not playing with heart from the very moment the season tips off is extremely discouraging. Also, the more quotes I hear after last night’s game, the more unsure I am about what this group actually thinks the problem is. Again, it’s like extended family, at some point, you’re just fighting and you don’t even know why. I fear that this group doesn’t know where to pass the blame nor how to be accountable.
For all the excitement about LaVine coming into the season healthy, he didn’t have the game you’d want to see. I was excited about his urgency to get downhill and get to the free throw line ( the Bulls need that!), but he started the game 0-5 with 4 TOVs and three fouls. By the end of the night, he shot just 4-16 for 16 points. If the Bulls really want to prove people wrong this year, LaVine needs to dig them out of holes … not grab a shovel.
Billy Donovan tried to play off last night’s shenanigans as a good thing. And, look, maybe it is! I do agree that open communication is important for a team to truly improve. I just think the fact that things are seemingly this tense after the very first game is a red flag. Some thrive under pressure, others tend to fall apart. What we’ve seen from this Bulls team in the past is the latter. I hope what Donovan is saying is true, but only time will tell.
“Now, I will say, the one thing I thought was good with some of the heated conversations and confrontations is that would have never happened last year. Ever,” Donovan said. “They would have been a quiet group. The confrontation piece is a sign that it’s important to them and that we got to do better.”
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