The conversations between executive and coach are an almost daily ritual.
Bulls vice president Arturas Karnisovas never has been shy about discussing any relevant topics with Billy Donovan.
But on the trade front, not a peep.
Karnisovas isn’t one to talk trade possibilities or scenarios with many outside his office walls, but Donovan always has been the exception, especially when the trade rumors have some heft.
That’s why it’s safe to say that not much is going on besides the Bulls winning games that actually don’t help their long-term cause. They did it again Saturday, beating the Bucks 116-111 behind Josh Giddey’s triple-double.
“We’re capable of beating anybody, and we’ve honestly shown we can lose a terrible game, as well,” guard Zach LaVine said. “Coming back here, getting a good win, a close win against a good team showed a lot.”
But as far as trades, the league is filled with haves and have-nots this season, a divide as wide as it has been in years.
It’s not like teams should have to wait until the Feb. 6 deadline to decide if they’re buyers or sellers.
“[Karnisovas] will bring something to me, ‘Hey, listen, this is real,’ ’’ Donovan said of the process. “I don’t really press him, and I trust that when there’s something really there to talk about, we’ll talk about it. I think he’s always been respectful that we got games coming, and we’re talking about the team, the roster, where we’re at now, how we get better, how we improve, those types of things. But there hasn’t been anything of substance of, ‘Hey, this is where things are at.’ ’’
But Donovan did agree that if playoff-caliber teams feel like they need assets, waiting too long is a dangerous game to play from a chemistry standpoint.
“If you have teams that feel like they have to add some things to take another jump, if they feel like they are closer if they do this or this or this, sometimes it’s hard when you make those decisions in February, when there are 25 games left, and guys are trying to acclimate,” Donovan said. “But [Karnisovas] has not come to me with anything in the last week where he said, ‘Hey, listen, this is real; there’s some substance here.’ None of that has happened.”
That hasn’t stopped the rumors from flowing. The Bulls (14-18) have been linked to the Nuggets, Warriors and Lakers in the last month.
Donovan’s approach seemed to be: He’ll believe it when he sees it.
After all, he had enough on his plate dealing with the Bucks, who were without Giannis Antetokounmpo for the second time in a week but were still no pushovers for the Bulls at the United Center.
Donovan’s players put the brutal 50-point fourth quarter suffered in the loss to the Hawks on Thursday behind them, playing much better defense against the more methodical Bucks.
LaVine tied the score with two free throws with 2:45 left, and after some poor possessions by both teams, Bucks veteran Khris Middleton answered with a finger roll with 1:30 left. That was no problem for the Bulls as Giddey hit a clutch three-pointer from the corner to give them the lead, and Patrick Williams got a steal and layup to put them up by three with 50 seconds left.
Brook Lopez made a three-pointer out of the timeout, but Coby White answered with a 17-footer. After a miss by Middleton, Giddey iced the game from the free-throw line. He had 23 points, 15 rebounds and 10 assists.