Bulls finding out that life as a soft tank team is filled with pain
The nine-point loss to Toronto on Thursday night was a good thing.
It dropped the Bulls to the No. 9 spot in the bottom of the standings — pre-lottery of course — flip-flopping them with a Milwaukee franchise that seems to be all in on trying to reach the play-in tournament.
That’s Darius Acuff Jr. Territory in most mock drafts, as the Bulls could be in on the Arkansas standout guard, fresh off his 49-point game against Alabama earlier this week.
As far as what other positives came out of the team’s return to play post-All-Star-Break? Very little.
Concerning, but not unfixable with 26 games left in the regular season.
This tanking stuff is new for the Bulls, at least the soft, purposeful type, so some grace needs to be afforded.
But first things first, and the idea that the organization is somehow going to be helped in the process is absolutely ludicrous.
As of Friday afternoon, of the eight teams below the Bulls, only Washington has a winning streak and that’s one game thanks to a victory over a tanking Indiana team. Just take a look at the masterclass of losing going on in the league’s basement properties. The Bulls have lost seven straight and are amateur hour compared to the 15 straight by Sacramento and nine-game cooler that Dallas was on.
Any idea that the Bulls front office might have of still trying to be competitive and at the same time gain lottery odds needs to be checked at the door and thrown in the nearest dumpster.
They don’t go hand-in-hand most years, and definitely not this season because of a loaded 2026 draft class.
The other realization that the Bulls need to start embracing is Jaden Ivey — the basketball player, not the person — could be damaged goods, closer to being out of the league than the spokesman for a feel-good comeback.
What’s becoming very obvious, and maybe was known all too well by the Pistons, is this is not the same explosive player that was selected No. 5 overall in the 2022 draft out of Purdue, and looked like a star in the making.
Since suffering a broken left fibula last Jan. 1, Ivey’s drop-off is head shaking. In his first 30 games pre-injury last season he was just under 30 minutes a game, filling it up with 17.6 points per contest and shooting just under 41% from three.
In his return to play this season, Detroit was giving him 17 minutes per game, he was averaging 8.2 points and shooting 37% from three with obvious drops in his play-making and explosiveness. In his first four games with the Bulls, he was back to almost 29 minutes per but averaging just 11.5 points.
Maybe the injury needed more than eight months of recovery. Maybe Ivey will get it back by next season. His comments after he didn’t even see the floor against Toronto on Thursday, however, were ominous when he told reporters, “I’ve been dealing with knee soreness in my knee. I’m sure people can call it out — I’m not the same player I used to be. That’s why. I’m not the J.I. I used to be. The old J.I. is dead.”
He was alive and well on Friday, just not at practice so he could get his knee looked at.
What needs to be understood about the 6-foot-3 guard is he is as religious a basketball player as there might be in the league. He makes that very evident in every interview. Basketball doesn’t dictate his life and is not his main calling.
The Bulls need to be prepared for that, especially with Ivey a restricted free agent this summer.
What the front office also needs to be prepared for? Rebuilds are not easy. There are more painful moments than good ones. Thursday was just the latest reminder of that.