Bulls vice president Arturas Karnisovas could be at a crossroads

Thirty-plus games in the books, the Christmas Day NBA extravaganza played and gone, and January now staring front offices across the Association in the face.

It’s the time of year where most teams have a good idea of what they are, and what needs to be done by the Feb. 9 trade deadline.

Then there’s the Bulls.

A frustrating study in being the ultimate Jekyll and Hyde team, constructed by executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas on “continuity’’ and hope.

Not always a great foundation.

The “continuity’’ is proven to be bad cement, while the hope is wet wood that still hasn’t dried out and might not this season.

Beat Boston twice and shock Milwaukee in their own backyard? Great, if only that same resume didn’t also have in the small print embarrassing losses to Orlando, San Antonio, Oklahoma City, Minnesota, and the latest coming on Monday, a 133-118 stinker to Houston.

Put up 144 on Dallas one night, only to have the Timberwolves drop a franchise-record 150 on them just a week later.

No wonder coach Billy Donovan said recently that the most consistent trait this roster has shown was being inconsistent.

“Maybe when we play against the teams with better records, we have that sense of urgency,” veteran All-Star DeMar DeRozan said of the loss to Houston. “I don’t know.

“We can’t just expect to win just because it’s the Rockets and it’s a bunch of young guys over there. Everybody in this league can beat anybody. We gotta be conscious of that. Understanding that every single game has that much importance for us, and we gotta have that sense of urgency.’’

Center Nikola Vucevic took it a step further. The big man knows that front offices start making decisions in the upcoming weeks, so in his opinion, “We’ve got to start taking every game as must-win.’’

Not the best part of the schedule to be facing that pressure.

In the next two-plus weeks alone the 14-19 Bulls host Milwaukee, Cleveland, Brooklyn, Utah and Golden State, while playing road games in Cleveland, Philadelphia and Boston.

All winnable games for this team, and at the same time possibly another five or six losses. It’s anyone’s guess.

And how this stretch plays out could also influence what Karnisovas decides to do.

While outsiders are quick to simply yell “Blow it up!’’ it’s easier said than done with this roster. There’s the Lonzo Ball factor, as the franchise awaits to see if the point guard’s surgically-repaired left knee starts moving in some sort of positive direction.

If the Bulls do want to move one of the “Big Three,’’ DeRozan is the best asset, but what’s the return? Ideally, Karnisovas would like to get a draft pick in whatever package he could acquire for the veteran scorer, but DeRozan is the type of player that a contender would look to grab. Unless that contending team has someone else’s lottery pick to send back in return it’s not a huge help.

Finally, and maybe the biggest obstacle in “bowling it up,’’ it would be Karnisovas having to admit that he was wrong in how he constructed this roster. Maybe he’s the type of executive who can move ego aside and admit that. However, the fact that he has refused media requests to discuss the season so far doesn’t exactly scream accountability.

Either way this plays out, the Bulls could soon find themselves at a crossroads. And how Karnisovas handles that could either start to build or crumble his legacy.

NOTE: Both Alex Caruso (concussion/shoulder) and Javonte Green (right knee) participated in a light scrimmage after the Tuesday practice.