From the night that Milwaukee sent the Bulls packing in the first round of the playoffs, “continuity’’ was the buzzword spewing from the organization.
And why not?
It’s very comforting for a fan base to accept.
It’s a hot dish on a cold night, it’s a pair of slippers after a long day at the office.
There’s something familiar about it that’s easy to embrace.
So hand Zach LaVine a $215 million max contract extension? Sure, the fans love LaVine. Bring back a DeMar DeRozan off a career year and now 33 years old? Absolutely, who cares if he can be on next month’s cover for AARP Magazine. Drink the Kool-aid on Nikola Vucevic just having a down shooting season in 2021-22? There’s no way he shoots 31.4% from three-point range again … is there?
But Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas didn’t just approach this mentality of “continuity’’ on a leap of faith based on his “Big Three,’’ either.
There’s a sample size that couldn’t be denied.
Back in November and December — when there wasn’t a line of bodies waiting to get into the training room — the Bulls were good.
On some nights, great.
A team doesn’t lead the Eastern Conference for weeks solely on luck.
The backcourt of Lonzo Ball, Alex Caruso, a healthy LaVine, and even rookie Ayo Dosunmu was as disruptive defensively as any collection of guards in the Association, while DeRozan was establishing himself as not only a mid-range maestro on the offensive end, but Mr. Clutch. Come late-game, DeRozan was an assassin in the fourth quarter.
It was a lethal combination, and one that appeared to have staying power.
That is until it didn’t.
So while “continuity’’ was a good plan on the surface, let’s grab some sand paper and varnish stripper, and see how durable this surface really might be.
While there’s no denying that the Bulls played like a first-place team when things were going well last season, there’s one issue that cannot be overlooked. Who were they beating? The reality of the situation was the Bulls climbed the mountain beating bum teams.
It was a much different story against the NBA’s elite.
Including the playoffs, the Bulls were a combined 3-25 against opponents with a winning percentage of .600 or higher. They were 1-14 against the top four teams in the Eastern Conference in the regular season.
The hill that Karnisovas & Co. chose to die on this summer was when they did face the rough part of the schedule, they did so with a banged up roster.
There is some truth to that, but a look at this roster leads to asking the next question: When aren’t some of these players banged up?
Ball, who is scheduled for a second left knee surgery on Wednesday, has played in an average of 50.4 games per season since being drafted in 2017, Caruso’s playing style should warrant a crash helmet, and LaVine seems to have a black cat living with him every season, especially when it comes to the league’s health and safety protocols.
So with media day kicking off the 2022 training camp on Monday, buzzwords like “continuity’’ are cute, but not always realistic.
“Leading into [this] training camp, there’s going to definitely be improvements being together for a longer time,’’ Karnisovas said earlier in the summer, when asked about keeping the gang together. “Again, you’re playing against Milwaukee, against Philly, against Boston, against Miami, they’ve been together for a long time. Continuity is valuable.’’
Hopefully for the Bulls, it’s also not misleading.
