Despite noise and suggestions to finally enter the rebuilding stage, the Bulls maintained their stiff conviction to continue competing this season. And now, with a middling 24-27 score, they are stuck in a complicated situation with how they'll address their future.
A head-scratching stand
The Bulls haven't shown any significant signs of an intent to commence a full-scale rebuild as the trade deadline approaches, making everyone and all of the league puzzled about their basketball plans and stubbornness.
As such, veteran league expert Bill Simmons regards the Bulls’ hesitancy to activate their players’ trade availability as a foolish stance.
“They should be trading everyone on their team. The Bulls not putting everyone up for sale right now on the trade deadline is probably the dumbest thing of the year other than everything San Antonio tried to do with their point guard situation this year,” he said in the latest episode of his “The Bill Simmons Podcast.”
“All of these guys should be available. They should try to trade DeRozan, they should be keeping Coby White. Maybe that's it. I know they can't trade Lavine because after consulting with the Klutch Sports agency, Lavine decided to have foot surgery or whatever they did. But I would trade these other guys.”
What's next for the Bulls?
The Bulls might have flashed plenty of promising wins and performances while their stars like DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic have maintained their firm stand that they can still go all in to contend. But at the end of the day, this group won't go anywhere with a fringe Play-In finish being the most realistic outcome of their season.
They might have hammered strong faith for themselves to continue grinding, but no one outside is fully convinced that they can go deep and propel a clear competing direction.
The ball is now in the hands of the Bulls as the clock ticks for the trade deadline. It only falls on whether they'll finally plot to start from scratch or continue holding their embattled reputation as the league's basketball purgatory.
More must-reads: