The Good, The Bad & The Ugly: Week 5

THE GOOD:

Nothing. The Bulls are on a four-game losing streak in which they look straight up awful. The offense looks lethargic & stagnant while the defense is almost nonexistent & the coaching has been abysmal.

THE BAD:

Adjustments. Losing to the Pelicans after playing them the week prior is something that shouldn’t happen—especially without Zion playing. This has to do with both coaching & team effort. The same mistakes are made when it comes to rebounding & defense while the offense looks shotty. Is the team just not watching film? Do they not care anymore? Is there something greater going on within the organization that’s having this impact? Maybe I’m being dramatic, but these are all viable questions.

Rotations & lineups. At what point will Billy Donovan decide to change the starting lineup? It’s early in the season & clearly there are some issues, maybe take out Patrick Williams & start DJJ or Javonte—they come in with more energy. I understand saving it for the bench but it’s clearly not working right now. There must be a better way to run the offense through LaVine or DeMar rather than iso midrange jumpers & step back jumpers.

Schedule. The Bulls have a very tough schedule coming up for the next couple of weeks. Playing either playoff teams or teams that are coming in hot; if the Bulls cannot figure something out, they’ll just get embarrassed out there. They play Boston at home tonight & then proceed to a seven-game road trip—yikes.

THE UGLY:

Billy Donovan benching Zach LaVine. Now this is ugly in two ways: Donovan making that decision & Zach’s response. Now according to recent interviews, all is good & Zach doesn’t want to “blow this out of proportion” which is fine but there is no doubt that this’ll have some sort of impact on their relationship & the game. I understand why Donovan benched LaVine at the end of the game against the Magic, he was 1-for-14 from the floor & his one shot came from a goaltend. His defense wasn’t there & he just didn’t look like himself but that does not mean you don’t put your max contract player on the floor during crunch time—especially in a free throw situation.

WEEK 5 PREDICTIONS:

Celtics vs. Bulls - W

Bulls @ Bucks - L

Bulls @ Thunder - W