Coach Billy Donovan is trying hard to find something salvageable.
“I see them fighting,’’ Donovan said after the Bulls’ 116-102 loss to the Thunder on Wednesday. “We just have not been consistent enough, quite honestly. We haven’t been consistent shooting the basketball. We just have these moments and periods where we kind of dig ourselves in somewhat of a hole. Some of that is fouling; some of it is giving up long rebounds. We just gotta keep fighting and being more consistent. That’s all it is.’’
If only that were true.
The focal points in training camp heading into the regular season were to change the team’s shot profile by putting up more three-pointers, to attack the paint to draw fouls and help with the drive-and-kick game and to play fast.
None of that has happened with any benefit or consistency.
The Bulls will go into the game in Toronto on Friday with a 5-11 record. They’re 15th in three-point attempts but 24th in three-point percentage (34.4%) and last in pace.
They’re not getting to the free-throw line (20.3 attempts per game, 26th in the league), and they don’t play with enough thrust and physicality to change that.
To make matters worse — if possible — they waste little time showing how bad a team they are, averaging a league-low 24 points in the first quarter and shooting 39.8% from the field, also a league low.
The “Big Three” — Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic — seems broken.
Donovan, known to be veteran-friendly, has hinted that he isn’t finished experimenting with lineup mixes, but would he ever bench one of the three and play him with the second unit? Unlikely. And how would that even help?
The only three reserves on the positive side of plus/minus are Ayo Dosunmu (plus-12), Patrick Williams (plus-7) and Andre Drummond (plus-2). Donovan already tried Williams with the starting group, and that was a flop. Dosunmu is better suited as an energy guy off the bench, and the same could be said for Drummond, although he does have years of starting experience and would bring a bit more physicality in the middle.
DeRozan has been insisting that the slow starts are turning into a mental hurdle more than anything else.
“You get down a couple, shots don’t go in, it kind of steamrolls,’’ DeRozan said. “Stay with it one play at a time and not get caught up in missing shots, not get caught up in them making shots . . . just one possession at a time.’’
The feeling is that it’s a hurdle the “Big Three” can get over.
Plus, with the front office finally determined to ship out LaVine, showcasing Vucevic and DeRozan is a must if the Bulls decide to switch course to a full rebuild.
That might be hard to stomach at times, especially with DeRozan a team-worst minus-115, followed by Vucevic at minus-78 and LaVine at minus-75, but there aren’t many other options.
And the upcoming schedule won’t help.
The next 10 known games — the In-Season Tournament schedule will add two more the week of Dec. 3 — are road matchups against the Raptors, Nets and Celtics, home games against the Bucks and Pelicans, then the Bucks on the road, the Nuggets at home and road games against the Heat (Dec. 14 and Dec. 16) and 76ers.
Only the Raptors and Nets are under .500, but they have better records than the Bulls.
That “fight’’ Donovan is claiming to see is about to be tested.
