PHILADELPHIA – The faces have changed, the playing style underwent a complete transformation, and coach Billy Donovan has gotten a bit grayer, but there the Bulls sat after Sunday’s 122-102 season-finale win over Philadelphia with the exact same 39-43 record as last year, still spinning the tires sunk in mediocrity.
So as much as the organization might want to pat themselves on the back for overcoming the losses of trading DeMar DeRozan and Alex Caruso last summer, and then Zach LaVine at the trade deadline, they still have a very familiar path ahead of them this week – needing to get through the play-in tournament just to try and become a playoff team.
They’re not alone in the Eastern Conference, either.
It will be the third consecutive year that both the Bulls and Miami will be in the play-in tournament, and the fourth for Atlanta.
Not only does that speak to how predictable the East has felt since the play-in was added, but the bigger concern, just how difficult it is to get out of mediocrity.
An issue that Billy Donovan didn’t shy away from speaking about on Sunday, and one that the organization has to confront sooner than later when the 2024-25 campaign does finally come to an end.
“You’re right, those are the conversations that are probably going to take place after the season is over with,” Donovan admitted. “They’ll be the front office evaluating, looking at the players in totality over the course of the season. I’m not that familiar with the free agency or the lottery right now. They’ll kind of get me up to speed on those things. Certainly, there will be contractual situations that they’ll have to look at and evaluate, but that would be the next step.
“Now I don’t know if that is, ‘OK, we have to go backwards before we go forwards’ or ‘Hey, we need to add around the fringes to take another step forward.’ I think that is going to be a big, big part in what’s going to take place after the season is over.”
They should have taken place with more conviction before the season even started.
If the Bulls do pick the path of taking further steps back to try and move forward – a path they have publicly spoken against since executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas took over – they missed the perfect opportunity this season with Duke standout Cooper Flagg the expected unanimous No. 1 pick in June.
If they try and “add around the fringes,” well, that will have to wait another year with most of this roster under contract through next season.
What that could mean for the Bulls and the play-in next year? Same time, same place. Rinse and repeat.
That’s why Donovan was asked if he was frustrated with what has felt like Ground Hog Day.
“I wouldn’t say that I’m frustrated,” Donovan said. “Even just being around the guys, I don’t think it’s necessarily just me. I would put Arturas and (general manager) Marc (Eversley), I would put Jerry and Michael (Reinsdorf) in it, you know we all want to win.
“With where we’re at in this point and time, clearly there’s a course direction change of whatever that looks like it is. I’m happy with course direction change if it’s moving towards, ‘Hey, we’re trying to get better.’ And I feel like everyone in the organization is in the mindset of doing that.”
First things first, however. The play-in showdown with Miami for the third straight year.
“I think it’s different this year,” veteran center Nikola Vucevic said of the matchup. “It’s going to be a grind-it-out game.”