THEY’RE JUST NOT A GRIT TEAM
Blowout loss to Beverley’s Bucks on Friday exposed the Bulls’ lack of toughness
The lines get blurry with Patrick Beverley. There’s the Chicago basketball player who walks it and talks it, and there’s the podcaster who seems to be looking to create his own material at times.
Which is the real Patrick Beverley? Likely both are, and that was evident in the Bucks’ 113-97 blowout victory Friday against the Bulls at the United Center.
Beverley, who was a Bull for the second half of last season, came home to play irritant as well as score 14 points off the bench to help the Bucks win their fifth consecutive game.
He had run-ins with DeMar DeRozan and Ayo Dosunmu and words with Nikola Vucevic.
It was all familiar territory for Beverley. The Bulls went 14-9 with Beverley last season, undoubtedly playing some of their best basketball after the addition of the hometown kid, but not all was great in the locker room.
The Sun-Times reported last March that Vucevic was bothered by the finger-pointing that instantly surfaced after Beverley’s arrival, and he wasn’t alone. There was enough of a problem that when the exit interviews took place between players and the front office, it became apparent that Beverley — a free agent — had to go despite the success and Beverley’s desire to stay with the Bulls.
Beverley shooting only 30.9% from threepoint range made it easier to scoop up Jevon Carter and sell it to the fan base as improving the shot profile, but the loss to the Bucks was a reminder of yet another bad decision made by executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas.
Beverley helped turn the momentum in his 18 minutes; Carter was a nonfactor in four uneventful minutes.
“Basketball is a physical game, obviously,” Beverley told reporters when asked about his run-ins. “I didn’t know how big the Milwaukee Bucks vs. the Chicago Bulls was until [Friday]. That’s how the game is, though. It’s physical. You’re going to get hit. I like to be the guy that hits people instead of getting hit.”
In other words, be the hammer, not the nail, a motto these Bulls have never fully embraced nor understood.
The loss to the Bucks was another reminder of how far the Bulls are from being a legitimate threat in the Eastern Conference and of how the makeup of the team might not be tough enough to handle adversity even if the talent level was higher.
Too much emphasis on choirboys, not enough bad boys.
It’s just another box to try to check off on the offseason to-do list.
Beverley wasn’t the answer for this group, but that doesn’t mean that adding a player who makes things uncomfortable shouldn’t be a priority.
Considering the contracts and the makeup of this Bulls roster, there’s a good chance that little will change from a personnel standpoint. Maybe the Bulls will let DeRozan walk in free agency, but all signs point to them trying to bring him back.
DeRozan is a great leader and an elite worker, but the good cop needs a bad cop. And that’s not Vucevic, and it certainly isn’t Zach LaVine.
Coby White has emerged as a vocal leader, but he doesn’t operate from a place of discomfort. At least not yet. Maybe with another offseason and even more confidence, White comes back looking to hold teammates more accountable.
Either way, something has to change. Beverley reminded everyone of that. He always does.