After going 2-3 over a stretch they needed to do better, fans are left to ponder where do the Bulls go from here? What the past week has showed is that without Gordon and Deng this team cannot score the basketball. This speaks volumes for how thin is this team’s talent level. The Clippers have played all year without Livingston and Brand, yet they can still score 90 points per game. Last night, the Clippers were without Kaman and Maggette in addition to Brand and Livingston and scored 95. These past few Bulls have been completely unwatchable. Other than Kirk Hinrich and Andres Nocioni, they don’t have any options offensively. Everyone knew when they signed Ben Wallace that he wasn’t an offensive threat. All he has done is reaffirm it. Thabo Sefolosha cannot be a shooting guard at this level and play 30+ minutes if he can’t hit a jump shot. It is easy to fall in love with his length and the steals that he can get, but he kills them on offense. Joakim Noah and Tyrus Thomas aren’t physically or emotionally mature enough to play 30 minutes per game. Noah numbers don’t look awful, but he got smacked around defensively. Tyrus appears to lose interest in the game when he can’t just jump around to block shots and dunk.  These are first round picks who were supposed to be important parts of the Bulls success this year and beyond, but they can’t be relied on.

The lack of development of those three really leaves the Bulls in a bind for this coming offseason. Chris Duhon is an unrestricted free agent, Luol Deng and Ben Gordon with be restricted free agents. Certainly, Gordon and Deng are with better leverage after seeing that the Bulls are a glorified D-league team without them.The Bulls could extend them, put themselves well above the cap for the next three or four years, and maybe by dealing their 1st round pick and proper use of the mid-level exception can get back to respectibility. Maybe this year is just a fluke. Maybe Hinrich has righted whatever slowed him, maybe it was just bad luck that Gordon, Deng, Duhon, and Smith have been battling injuries at the same time. Even then, they aren’t a legit contender. They might win 45 games, but won’t go anywhere. Dwight Howard and LeBron aren’t leaving the Eastern Conference. The Celtics and Pistons have another couple years before they fall off. As a Bulls fan, I am really nervous about the possibility of the Heat tanking the rest of the season and teaming either Derrick Rose or Michael Beasley with Dwyane Wade for the next decade. If the Bulls keep this core together, it won’t be enough. Maybe if the Bulls had this core, as well as bring in Zach Randolph or another beast on the block, the picture would be different, but that is just wishful thinking. Dealing for big men is never easy, and almost never cheap.

This brings me to the question of whether Paxson would break it up. Would he deal Luol Deng, or is he still untouchable in Paxson’s eyes? Is he still blinded by the ceiling of Tyrus Thomas? Does he still find passion and energy to be more valuable traits than overall skill sets? Given the way Tyson has thrived in New Orleans, it is easy to think that Paxson might be a bit gunshy on trading young players, but how else could this team ever get back to playing at a championship level? Danny Ainge pulled the trigger last summer, and it has paid off. Isiah Thomas has made many moves that have not. Pat Riley went all in, won a title, and now has the worst team in the NBA. No one can guarantee that change would be for the better, but because of the failure of the status quo, how can they not look and see?

After putting up yet another stinker in Memphis yesterday afternoon, the Bulls have yet to make a run in the part of the schedule which appears to be the weakest. In a month where they should have played .600-.700 ball, they are 5-6 this month with losses to Atlanta, Memphis, and New York. The idea of this team turning it on and making a run towards repectability is getting more absurd by the day. They can’t put together a win streak and have been blown out by bad teams. This upcoming stretch of games to finish month will tell whether the Bulls have any chance of making the playoffs this season. They have two games against Minnesota as well as home games against Indiana, Charlotte, and Phoenix. If they can win four of five, they should position themselves to at least tread water when they head out on their Pacific coast trip.

Right now, the Bulls are two games behind Indiana and Atlanta in the standings for the 7th and 8th spots. They need to go into February even with those two, because their Febraury schedule will kill them. They simply will not have a winning month in February. The goal has to be to just stay within a realistic distance of catching the bottom spots. First, they will head out to the Pacific for five games in eight days where they’ll be lucky to walk away 2-3. They then return home for a homecoming ceremony for Tyson Chandler. I just know that somewhere Jerry Krause is going to be popping champaign that night. After a game against the hapless Heat, they go to New Jersey whom they never beat on the road and a home date with Denver. Then just when you think it can’t get worse, they go to Texas to play Houston and Dallas back-to-back. They close the month with a game at Indiana and then hosting Washington. At best, they will go 6-7 and could conceivably go 4-9 or 3-10. They have been a bad basketball team this year, but not among the worst in the league. If they don’t start getting on track now, the season will be over by the trade deadline. How funny would that be, a team who thought they were so flush with talent and depth being a seller. And truthfully, who would they sell? Nobody is going to take Ben Wallace. Hinrich and Nocioni just signed big extensions so they aren’t going anywhere. Gordon and Deng will fetch about 50 cents on the dollar. Basically the only guys who they sell off would be Joe Smith and Chris Duhon, neither of whom would get much in return. The picture could get really ugly really quick if this team doesn’t turn it on soon.

Joakim Noah plays hard. I believe that he wants to win. He’s the son of a champion athlete, and I have no doubt that it has been engrained in him from a young age the importance of competing hard and winning. It also doesn’t matter. Joakim Noah cursing out Ron Adams was a punk move. It wasn’t the first time this has ever happened. Phil Jackson chronicled how Kobe Bryant and Shaquille O’Neal cursed out Tex Winter when he criticized the way the Lakers ran the triangle offense. I remember reading that Michael Jordan cursed out Tex for his abandoning the triangle as well. It happens all the time in every sport. Competitive athletes who compete at the highest levels are sensitive about their weaknesses and how they respond to criticism. 

Noah isn’t on the level of Kobe, Shaq, or Jordan. He has not earned the right to be a jerk. I think what happened is that the Bulls two veterans, Adrian Griffin and Ben Wallace, saw what happened and felt that Jim Boylan let him off easy and felt that humiliating Noah publicly would be the best punishment. One game for Noah doesn’t mean much. He has a few DNP-CDs this season and rarely played significant minutes in meaningful situations. He is one of the least skilled players in the NBA, and certainly has the ugliest looking shot. He doesn’t know where he is supposed to be on plays. Part of this team’s many problems is trying to get him and Tyrus Thomas minutes when Joe Smith plays the same position, only better. Neither the team nor Noah are affected by one game. A public flogging might put Noah in his place. It might get him to realize that the #9 pick overall in the draft who really only brings energy has the right to be a primadona. I would have approached it differently. If I was a decision-maker with the Bulls, I would have simply sent him to the NBDL. No public suspension, send him on a bus to Des Moines. If he thinks he is above Ron Adams’ coaching, is above showing up on time, then send him to Iowa where he can continue being bad and late. It really should not have been a big deal.

The reason this bothers me is that it lets the rest of the team off the hook for an absolutely disgusting effort against the Hawks. NBA matinee games usually are telling as to the commitment level of the team. These are guys who are used to work days for the average 7:30 game day working until midnight. If they have to travel afterwards, they might get off a plane at 4 or 5am. By design, they aren’t morning people. It takes commitment to do what they have to do to be ready for an early January afternoon game. I was impressed that Portland, who had a 10am body clock start in Toronto take the Raptors to double OT. Teams like the Spurs and stars who love the spotlight like LeBron and Kobe usually thrive in these games. This was a kind of game the Bulls have feasted on the past two or three seasons, and they got embarrassed by the Hawks. The Bulls with their “high character” guys got worked by Josh Smith and Joe Johnson. Kirk Hinrich should have just given Joe Johnson a massage, because Joe got anything he wanted. Josh Smith and Marvin Williams just threw Andres Nocioni around like a rag doll. The block Josh Smith had on Nocioni was the hardest block I have ever seen. Even when the Hawks wanted to give the game away by being just awful in the 3^rd quarter, the Bulls couldn’t take advantage. I knew that if they got the lead down to ten by the start of the 4^th that they would pull it out. Of course, they never did. They should thank Joakim Noah for taking the attention away from the fact that the little hustling team who would grind away opponents is a thing of the past. Now they are just another bad team who can’t be coached. 

The quarter opened well with Aaron Gray getting a bucket to up the lead to 13. One would think against a poor defensive team who was 1-13 on the road that a 13 point lead in the 4th quarter was safe. One would think that after Joe Smith scores with 9:11 left that the Bulls would score more than 6 points for the rest of the game. One would think that with Ben Gordon on the floor that the Bulls would get one point in the final four minutes. Yet, the Bulls found a way to lose it. The 2007-08 Bulls really are amazing in that respect. Last year, no deficit was too big. This year, no lead is safe. Then again, with Deng hurt and Nocioni slowed with the flu, the Bulls were going with Tyrus Thomas, Joe Smith, and Ben Wallace as their front court down the stretch. As much as I am a fan of Joe Smith, I cannot think of one other team who has trotted out a worse offensive frontcourt in crunch time. Throw in the fact that they let the Knicks get three shots on the game deciding possession, I am at a loss of words as to why anyone would think that the Bulls put their best lineup possible down the stretch. If they can’t score, rebound, or stop the Knicks big men, then what good are they?

I am also wondering why Viktor Khryapa continues to get suited up when the team doesn’t have enough confidence to put him in the game when both Luol Deng and Andres Nocioni are out? Is he really that bad? If so, then why is he still on the roster? He’s in the final year of his contract, they can cut him without it hurting them long term. Having him suited up when they have no intention to ever play him one meaningful minute is hurting this team.

Also, Thabo Sefolosha had his best game in the past month on Saturday against Sacramento. He played three minutes tonight. A night where they needed someone to step in on the wing they couldn’t find a way to play him more than three minutes. I’m not the world’s biggest Thabo fan, but they sure do love yanking him around.

Finally, I want to write this before I read the papers windering why Aaron Gray doesn’t get more minutes… he had three fouls and two turnovers in ten minutes. He did a nice job of picking up the garbage tonight and got 12 points in ten minutes, which is nice. For a back up center, that is a solid outing. It doesn’t change the fact that he is almost an anti-presence defensively in the middle. He couldn’t guard Curry on the block at all. If they played him 20 minutes, he would have fouled out. He also isn’t this great post presence that the Bulls have been missing. For all the love the Bulls announcers throw Gray’s way, he is still a downgrade as a post threat from Sweets. The more they play Gray, the farther they go from being a playoff team and closer to being a part of the Michael Beasley sweepstakes.

What was disappointing about yesterday was that everything was looking to be pointing in the Bulls direction. Despite having Deng sitting out most of the game with an injury, the Bulls had the game under control. Portland really didn’t have much going for them other than Brandon Roy. Aldridge has a nice jump shot, but whenever he got the ball on the block it was a good thing for the Bulls. Webster and Outlaw didn’t appear to be interested in playing defense. Blake appeared to try chasing around the Bulls, but still wasn’t effective. The stretch in the 2nd quarter where the Blazers had Jack and Rodriguez sharing a backcourt was as bad a showing of guard play as one could expect from NBA players. It wasn’t just Portland screwing up, Ben Gordon and Joe Smith gave tremendous games. I’m a big Joe Smith fan, but I didn’t think he had a 31-11 game left in him, even against Travis Outlaw. Geez, even Ben Wallace gave them a good second half/overtime. They still found a way to lose it.

Gordon losing the ball in overtime happens. I can’t get upset over that. I’m not going to lie, I thought once Gordon got going and was draining jumper after jumper down the stretch, the Bulls had the game wrapped up, but they didn’t. Roy outshined Gordon down the stretch. It happens, but that isn’t what lost the game. What I am upset over is that with a fourteen point lead in the 3rd quarter all but gone, Boylan trots out the worst offensive lineup possible. Duhon/Hinrich, Gordon, Griffin, Noah, and Wallace. So really, it was 1 on 5, except for the fact the offense during that stretch didn’t revolve around Gordon. They had possessions where he didn’t even touch the ball. It bothered me to no end. I understand that with Sefolosha inactive with a finger injury and Deng out after a quarter that the Bulls are short on men, but that can’t be the best the Bulls put on the floor. Why have Viktor Khryapa on the roster if not to use him when two wings are hurt? I know he isn’t a complete stiff. In EuroBasket over the summer, he was one of Russia’s best players in their championship run. His numbers were good. If he can’t cut it, then why not activate either JamesOn Curry or bring back Demetris Nichols from Iowa? I know that they are 2nd round rookies, but both of their strengths are shooting the ball. And if Curry, Nichols, and Khryapa are so bad or unprepared, then why not Tyrus or Gray instead of Noah or Wallace. I’m not a Tyrus fan, but he’s more of an offensive threat than those two. Gray won’t stop anyone, but it wasn’t like Channing Frye was going to do anything, and alongside Wallace or Noah both of whom can block shots, Gray’s lack of quickness might be negated.

I still believe that the Bulls will put together a nice run. With the Kings, Knicks, 76ers, and Hawks coming up next, I have to believe that the Bulls will put together their first winning streak of more than two games the season. The Kings are without Kevin Martin, Mike Bibby, and Ron Artest. The Knicks and Sixers are a mess. The Hawks have to be the worst over .500 team I’ve seen in a long time. They should win all four, and need to come away with at least three. If not now, then when?