Bulls come off West Coast trip California dreaming as seasons nears end
Without question the Bulls can save paper on playoff tickets at this point, and with 15 regular-season games left it’s looking like even the annual visit and dismissal from the Eastern Conference play-in tournament – also known as the Bulls Invitational – is all but out of reach.
For Billy Donovan and his coaching staff, it’s about the little things. Those moments caught on film where the franchise can say, “Hey, we got something here.”
As both Leonard Miller and Rob Dillingham showed on the five-game West Coast trip, “Hey, we got something here.”
Miller started the last three games, scoring in double figures each time and grabbing 28 total rebounds. Dillingham had back-to-back 12-point games to close out the trip and was a plus-12 in plus/minus to go along with 5.5 assists per game.
Donovan was quick to pat them both on the back but also coach them up on the details that needed to be refined.
“I’m really pleased with their effort and how they are trying to play and share the ball,” Donovan said of the duo. “They are doing some good things and made progress and gotten better, but when you are talking about trying to win games against teams that are trying to get into the playoffs, and that’s what this trip (was), you can’t make those kinds of mistakes.
“So the effort has been there, but the mental concentration has got to be better. On an individual basis, Miller has gotten better, Dillingham has gotten better. We’ve gotten good minutes from those guys.”
Moving forward to next season, they are both showing signs of being at least rotation options for a roster that needs both talent and depth.
The Bulls have the $2.4-million team option for Miller for the 2026-27 campaign, while Dillingham is only in Year 2 of his rookie contract, so has time to get stronger and continue to work on his craft.
Not bad for a team that will enter the offseason with by far the lowest amount of guaranteed money in the books at $90.5 million.
Josh Giddey will currently be the highest-paid player at $25 million, followed by Patrick Williams and his $18 million, Isaac Okoro ($11.8 million), Jalen Smith ($9.4 million) and Tre Jones ($8 million). As well as having Dillingham on his rookie deal, so are Matas Buzelis and Noa Essengue.
The Bulls do have final say over restricted free agent Jaden Ivey, but that still leaves executive Arturas Karnisovas a lot of cap room to play bully ball with free agents, but more importantly other team’s restricted free agents.
That doesn’t mean Donovan’s season is even close to over when it comes to the evaluating process, however.
Buzelis looked like a franchise-type force on the West Coast, Giddey continued to play like a guy that would be a legit No. 3 option/facilitator on a playoff team – not a championship team – but a playoff team. And Dillingham and Miller are proving to be rotation options to go along with Smith, Okoro and Jones. If Ivey can get back from his knee strengthening program and play a few weeks? Even better.
Still a huge amount of work to do to make this roster just mediocre, but the cupboard isn’t completely bare.
What Donovan reiterated is the group will continue to be coached hard.
“We have too many mental lapses and breakdowns,” he added of the still shaky defense. “Quite honestly, we could be doing a better job as a coaching staff, where traps are coming from and where you can’t let the ball go, breakdowns going into the fourth, a couple of possessions (losing) offensive rebounds. I’m not saying we have to play mistake free, but we have to have more attention to details on the little things.”