Unhappy Bulls have players-only meeting after first game

After a 10th-place finish last season, the Chicago Bulls decided to run it back this season. They re-signed Nikola Vucevic, held onto Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan and gave new deals to young guards Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu. The early results aren't promising.

Chicago dropped their opening game 124-104 to the Oklahoma City Thunder. During the game, Vucevic and Coach Billy Donovan argued on the bench after the frustrated center got a technical for throwing a basketball off the stanchion.

Then after the game, the Bulls players held a meeting without Donovan, involving "heated conversations."

Donovan said that he wants this year's roster to "embrace conflict," but he probably didn't expect that conflict to happen in the Bulls' very first game. Usually, a players-only meeting waits until there have been at least a few weeks, but the Bulls were already yelling at each other in the season opener.

It also signals that things could fall apart quickly in Chicago, which might mean DeRozan, playing in the last year of his contract, could be traded. Vucevic is safe, but Donovan might not be if the ugly start continues.

The ceiling was already low for this year's Bulls team. We might find out its floor is lower than we expected as well.