It was somewhere in between Billy Donovan pulling out the guitar at the campfire and singing “Kumbaya,” and the Bulls coach flat-out publicly sending a message to his team.
A tightrope Donovan was willing to walk in the midst of a seven-game losing streak and a cloud of despair growing over the Bulls these days.
“I think the disconnect is the details,” Donovan said. “We’re not gifted enough or good enough to not do that and we’ve got to stay focused. The disconnect is when they care enough about each other in that locker room, that’s when it will get done.”
Not an easy pitch to make lately.
The losing has taken a toll on team chemistry, enough so that several veterans are doing their best to try and hold it together. A source told the Sun-Times on Monday that this is a crucial time for this team because it is starting to splinter. The source went on to say that Coby White – the longest tenured Bull – has been one of the main figures behind the scenes trying to put out fires, limit the finger pointing, while still holding teammates accountable.
Maybe that’s why he went on an impromptu speech about that very topic last week, insisting, “We’re a close group, we’ve got a lot of great relationships on this team. For us we’ve got to continue to have the honest conversations we’re having with each other, continue to grow.”
What if the losing continues, however, and it isn’t fixable? That’s becoming more and more realistic for a roster that has up to eight players that are in walk years. White, Nikola Vucevic, Kevin Huerter, Zach Collins, Ayo Dosunmu and Jevon Carter will all be unrestricted free agents, while Julian Phillips and Dalen Terry have decisions to be made on their rookie deals.
It’s a powder keg that already has some sparks near it the last few weeks.
Donovan has addressed the contract situation several times with the group, but factor in the losing and the fact that there is no superstar on the roster to bail them out of tough on-the-court moments, and the coach will be tested.
“In the adversity we’re going through, the losing, whatever it is, I think that your true colors come out in who you are and your competitive character,” Donovan said, when asked what if this group does go south. “If that’s the way we would go, that would really, really speak deeply to the individual and collective character of the group. I don’t worry about that. The other way I worry about it right now is how about the guys that are going into the last year of a contract, how about taking care of those guys? That would be my mentality (as a teammate).
“We have an opportunity to go in there every single night and say, ‘You know what, I know he’s going into the last year. I’m going to try and do everything I can to make sure he gets taken care of, man. He’s open, I’m going to find him, and you know what, I’m going to help this guy, block out …’ That’s really what you do.”
The Bulls have four days between games, not playing again until Friday. That might not seem like a lot of time to get everyone’s head right, but it’s all Donovan has for now.
“I don’t believe we have that kind of group in there in my opinion, I could be wrong, that’s how I feel,” Donovan said when asked if he could see the team splintering into selfish directions. “Until we get that mentality that, ‘You know what, my own individual stuff is just as equally important as the guy sitting next to me …’ One of the greatest things about team sports that I love is it’s all relative about the sacrifice to win. The more you put the focus on the man next to you, your job becomes a lot easier.”