Last season, the Chicago Bulls showed a lot of promise, as they held the best record in the Eastern Conference at the All-Star break.
But they stumbled afterward, finishing only sixth and getting rolled in the first round of the playoffs by the Milwaukee Bucks.
Their struggles have continued this season, as they currently have a 26-33 record and are hanging by a thread to a play-in tournament spot.
Many have felt the Bulls need to hit the proverbial reset button, an opinion that former NBA player and current ESPN analyst Jalen Rose agrees with.
.@JalenRose thinks time is running out for the Bulls ⏳
“The Bulls are exactly where you don’t want to be. … I anticipate the Bulls are going to blow this thing up.” pic.twitter.com/65I554P4f6
— NBA on ESPN (@ESPNNBA) February 21, 2023
Prior to the trade deadline, there were many rumors that Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic, the Bulls’ three best players, were being shopped, but none of them got dealt.
As Rose pointed out, all three have large contracts, but they don’t necessarily mesh well together.
Vucevic will become a free agent this summer, while DeRozan is under contract for one more year and LaVine has four seasons remaining on his deal.
Many trace a good amount of Chicago’s struggles to guard Lonzo Ball’s torn meniscus, which he suffered last January and is yet to return from.
While he will likely never make an All-Star team, he is a nice player to have, not to mention a very good defender who can guard multiple positions.
Yet the Bulls rank a very solid ninth in defensive rating this season, so Ball cannot be blamed that much for their problems.
As the old saying goes, good is the enemy of great, and perhaps it will be right for a franchise with six NBA championships to start over from scratch in order to eventually get its seventh.
