BULLS NOT PANICKING JUST YET
Boylen says he sees ‘good things’ despite 1-4 start
There was a certain amount of defiance in coach Jim Boylen’s response to a question after the Bulls’ latest loss.
‘‘Hell, yeah,’’ Boylen said when he was asked whether he’s seeing growth in his team after the Bulls’ 117-111 loss Wednesday to the Cavaliers. ‘‘I’ve seen a lot of growth. Ball is moving, guys are playing with confidence, I think we’re getting good looks. I think we’re getting a lot of good shots that will go down.’’
Less than a minute later, however, Boylen listed everything that has gone wrong in the Bulls’ disappointing 1-4 start.
‘‘[The Cavaliers] drove it at us, they rebounded around us, they brought the physicality that you need to have in the fourth quarter,’’ Boylen said. ‘‘That’s kind of the growth plate of this group, I think. Physical toughness, mental toughness. But, again, a lot of good things.’’
It’s hard to see those ‘‘good things’’ now. Second-year center Wendell Carter Jr. can’t stay out of foul trouble, shooting guard Zach LaVine is trying to do too much because the losses are piling up, small forward Otto Porter Jr. still is trying to find his way in the offense, point guard Tomas Satoransky has too many inconsistent moments and the bench is up-and-down.
Then there’s the strange case of power forward Lauri Markkanen. Since scoring 35 points and grabbing 17 rebounds in the season opener against the Hornets, Markkanen has been less than stellar.
He followed up that 35-point effort with back-to-back nine-point performances against the Grizzlies and Raptors. He then scored a pedestrian 18 points against the Knicks and 16 on 4-for-12 shooting — not to mention playing some poor defense — against the Cavaliers. All of that led to Boylen moving away from Markkanen down the stretch, benching him in favor of forward Thaddeus Young.
The problem with that, however, is that the Bulls have built their roster around LaVine and Markkanen, with the rest of the players filling in and doing the dirty work.
So as confident as Boylen is that things will turn around, Markkanen and LaVine have to find a way to pull the rope at the same time. Even the players see that.
‘‘Everything we’re doing hasn’t translated to wins, but we’re just going through the process and guys are getting better each and every day,’’ Young said. ‘‘And we are yet to have a game where we have our two best players both play well. It’s either Zach is playing well and Lauri’s not or Lauri’s playing well and Zach’s not. So we have to figure out how to get those two playing well, get them going early and keep them going through the course of the game. And then if we all fill in the gaps and holes, we can be a very good team.
‘‘We just have to go out there and believe it each and every night and make sure we go out there and finish executing in games.’’
The October schedule appeared set up for the Bulls to get out of the gate quickly, build some confidence and start running. To start 1-4 isn’t good, especially with some tough games looming in November.
‘‘We haven’t played as well in key moments as I’ve hoped and they’ve hoped,’’ Boylen said. ‘‘That’s part of the learning process.’’
It’s a process the Bulls had better learn fast.