Coby White was telling his bosses what they are.
Sure, the guard dressed it up with a cute little nickname of “Cardiac Bulls,” referring to an all too familiar pattern of falling behind early and having to come back to try and win close games, but White wasn’t talking out of turn on the current roster construction.
“I don’t think we’ve gone into games acting like we’re supposed to win,” White said of the last few weeks. “I just think we hit a storm (lately) and we were trying to figure out how to get through it, stay together. We just have to keep that in mind no matter who we’re playing.
“I feel like every game is going to be tough. We’re not the type of team that’s going to have a lot of blowouts and stuff like that. It’s going to come down to grind-it-out wins a majority of the time. That’s what we need to focus on, how to win those kinds of games.”
Something White and the Bulls haven’t done much of lately, posting a 2-8 record since Nov. 22 over what was considered an easier part of the schedule.
Billy Donovan has been telling his bosses what they are.
The coach has talked about the “slim margins” they operate on in every game and has insisted that there wasn’t a significant talent gap between them and the likes of lottery-bound teams like New Orleans, Charlotte and Brooklyn.
That’s been obvious, considering the Bulls have posted a 1-4 record against those three teams so far this season. By the way, those three teams are also a combined 20-58 as of Tuesday.
Recent home games are telling the bosses what they are.
Empty seats for the Reinsdorfs to look at are one thing, but expensive suites that are dark and empty because a group decided not to even show up?
That’s never a good thing for job security. That means frustration has turned into apathy. The fans are telling the organization they would rather watch the money that was spent on the suite go up in smoke than come out and spend more money to support a product they feel is going nowhere.
While former executive John Paxson walked out the door on his own terms, there was building tension around his job security because the number of darkened suites was growing home game by home game.
The standings are telling the Bulls bosses what they are.
Executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas can throw out the injury excuse all he wants, but this team is not going to get fully whole for a while. White has been dealing with calf issues all season long, Isaac Okoro just got over a back issue, Ayo Dosunmu said on Tuesday that both of his thumbs were messed up, as well as a bone bruise that leaves him battling with pain tolerance, and rookie Noa Essengue was lost for the year with season-ending shoulder surgery.
The idea that Karnisovas was just going to copy the blueprint of the Indiana Pacers and try to use depth as a strength – forget the fact that the Bulls don’t have an All-Star talent like Tyrese Haliburton or championship DNA like Pascal Siakam – was fool’s gold. Yes, Indiana used depth to get to the NBA Finals last season, but they were more talented, more physical and better defensively than what Karnisovas has marched out there.
So with all the noise around this team lately is any of it being heard?
Not yet.
Karnisovas isn’t expected to speak with the media publicly until the trade deadline. He might want to change his schedule. The commotion around him is only getting louder and most of it is coming from within his own building.