Bulls drop fifth straight as the negativity still hovers over franchise

NEW YORK — Bulls coach Billy Donovan is preparing for the inevitable. He doesn’t know when or where, but he knows it’s coming.

Most of the Bulls’ new additions at the trade deadline last week weren’t playing the minutes with their previous teams that they’re playing now. They definitely weren’t playing at this pace.

“I do think this group is going to hit the wall,” Donovan said. “Coming out of the All-Star break, what those last 27 games are going to look like for us physically is going to be a big factor.”

He’s trying to control the new players’ workloads while also getting them into the gym between games for conditioning.

What he can’t control is the negativity in the aftermath of the trades. With a 123-115 loss to the Nets on Monday night, the Bulls (24-30) have lost five straight games and three since the deadline. They’re being ripped on social media — not for the players they traded as much as for waiting so long to move a few of them and for the pieces they got in return.

Donovan isn’t on social media but also doesn’t live under a rock. Although he doesn’t hear much of the outside noise himself, he’s aware of what’s being said and has discussed it with the team.

“I’ve tried to talk to them about what our focus is and what our direction needs to be inside our team,” he said. “There are guys with expiring contracts, some guys that want to play, so we’ve got to help each other, go out there and compete. All that kind of stuff is important, so I’ve tried to redirect their focus onto that: ‘What do we got to do to get better as a team?’

“I can see people on the outside, ‘Are they really trying to win? What’s with this group? . . . Who is going to be back? Who isn’t going to be back? Maybe these guys are auditioning, [or] they really don’t care.’ I still think, inside that locker room, these guys are professionals, and they don’t want to come in every day, work, try and buy in and [say], ‘OK, we’re just going to experiment with all this stuff.’ ”

Donovan is doing enough experimenting of his own just trying different lineups to see what works. The Bulls’ starting group remained the same Monday: Guerschon Yabusele, Isaac Okoro, Matas Buzelis, Jaden Ivey and Anfernee Simons, who led the team with 23 points. Nick Richards, Collin Sexton and Rob Dillingham got minutes off the bench.

With the Bulls down by six with 2:55 left in the game, Donovan went with Sexton, Simons, Okoro, Buzelis and Richards for closing time. It didn’t go well, as the group lost ground because of continued defensive breakdowns. By the time the final horn sounded, it was the 6-2 Dillingham who led the team in rebounds, with a career-high seven.

This group is small and trying to figure it all out on the fly.

“We’re going through it,” Ivey said after the game. “Going through it together. That’s how you learn. That’s how you grow. That’s how you make each other better and figure ways to win the game and affect the game, communicating and talking and being there for one another. As we continue to progress in games, we’ll understand that and make adjustments on that.”

Nic Claxton led the Nets with 28 points.