A MOCK & BULLS STORY
Loss to Wizards bad, but failure to do anything at trade deadline was true low point of season
It would be an easy game to point at and say: ‘‘There it was. There was the low point for the 2023-24 Bulls.’’
After all, into town came a 13-victory Wizards team missing arguably two of its better players in Kyle Kuzma and Deni Avdija and with all but nothing to play for.
By the time the United Center was clearing out late Monday, however, it was the Bulls who looked directionless and lifeless after a 107-105 loss.
‘‘I’m pretty sure I’m going to be pissed off until we get back out on the court,’’ veteran forward DeMar DeRozan said afterward. ‘‘We shouldn’t drop games like this right now. We’re resilient, but we can’t live on the edge every single game. We’ve gotta leave it out there these last 10 games. We can’t have no more excuses. Play like your life depends on it, simple as that.’’
It had to be the low point of the season, right?
But here’s the thing about this latest version of ‘‘competitiveness’’ the front office of executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas and general manager Marc Eversley have marched out there: The game wasn’t even close to rock bottom this season.
In terms of losing to a bad team, maybe. But remember that the Bulls have two losses to a 12-victory Pistons team on their résumé, too. Rock bottom, however, came when the Bulls were one of only two NBA teams not to make a single move at the trade deadline Feb. 8.
That’s the low point. Losing to the Wizards with 10 games left and play-in positioning still in doubt was the product of a front office not understanding how to move forward with a roster that’s going nowhere.
‘‘It sucks because all these games matter,’’ DeRozan said. ‘‘You want to be playing good basketball toward this part of the season. In the circumstance we are under, everything matters so much more. We’ve got to be more desperate. Not just the beginning of the game, but every single game from here on out.
‘‘There’s time, but we need to be playing the right way. Competing from beginning to end, that’s all that matters.’’
At the end of March, yes.
What really should matter for DeRozan, however, has little to do with March. It’s time for him to do the right thing for the next stage of his career and move on in free agency this summer.
DeRozan will get a contract offer from Karnisovas — and it likely will be the best one he receives because the Bulls only know how to bid against themselves — but he shouldn’t take it.
This is only going to get worse before it gets better and, at 34, DeRozan owes himself a chance at a championship.
Because this front office can’t seem to stop making irrational roster decisions, DeRozan has to be the adult in the room and use this opportunity to walk away. It won’t be easy because he lives by a code of loyalty and sticking around until the job is finished.
This job and team are finished. When a dumpster is on fire, you don’t climb back into it, no matter what the dollar signs say.
Maybe, just maybe, that will force the front office to start doing what should have been done two seasons ago: realizing a teardown is the only option.
When the heart and soul of the team opts to leave for less money, that should be the only message needed.
At that point, there would be no reason to keep guard Alex Caruso in the mix. And at least gauging the trade value of guards Coby White and Ayo Dosunmu might be prudent, too.
But DeRozan needs to be the first domino to fall. If not, expect rock bottoms to become the norm for the Bulls.