So the Bulls have made their big move. They’ve added Chicago’s Patrick Beverley to the roster. So far, so good. Beverley joins a Bulls team that has been desperate for consistent point-guard play since Lonzo Ball tore his meniscus in January 2022. While a lot was made about Beverley’s personality, not enough was made about how he can help the Bulls from a strategic standpoint.
Beverley is a player who doesn’t need the ball in his hands to be effective. That plays well for this Bulls team because they have two ball-dominant players in Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan. Plus, Nikola Vucevic is ball-dependent, meaning the offense runs better when he gets touches. Beverley’s ability to see the floor and direct the offense is valuable to a squad that has seemed rudderless for much of this season. He also gives the Bulls another three-point threat, which changes the geometry of the floor.
Seeing the Bulls still struggling below .500 at this point is disheartening. There’s definitely enough talent here, even if it’s mismatched. A .500 finish should be the floor for this team, not a goal.
The Beverley move might be too little, too late, though it’s clear the Bulls have their sights set on the postseason. But in the NBA world, the word “postseason” is a bit blurry these days. Before the institution of the play-in tournament, everyone knew what you meant by postseason. Now it’s a bit nebulous. It’s why I’m struggling to define what success is for this team. The front office is struggling to articulate success, as well.
Before the season, Bulls boss Arturas Karnisovas said his expectations centered on having a better fate in the playoffs than last season. Most people assumed he expected the Bulls to get beyond the first round. Ball’s injury and the team’s ineffective overall play have left the Bulls in a place where they’ll have to scramble to make the play-in. After the trade deadline, Karnisovas was asked if he thought his team would make the playoffs, and he said yes. Play-in? Playoff? Potato-tomato. I’m still a little confused.
Are these two things the same for Karnisovas? There hasn’t been any clarity in this regard because Karnisovas is a bit reclusive when it comes to on-the-record access. According to the league, though, play-in and playoffs are not the same. The play-in tournament is the NBA’s version of limbo. Stats don’t count toward the playoffs, and they don’t add into the regular-season total. It’s a fugazi. It doesn’t exist. If the Bulls were to lose in the play-in tournament, it would be like it didn’t even happen for everyone outside of Chicago.
Maybe what we’re seeing is AK grading on a curve. At the trade deadline, the Bulls stood pat, and Karnisovas offered up that the organization would use the remaining games as an evaluation period. The team promptly went out and offered up its longest losing streak of the season as evidence.
Things feel a bit better now, and that’s partially because of Beverley’s presence and partially because the schedule is soft. And let’s not forget that LaVine has found his game offensively, which makes a huge difference.
Back to AK’s grading curve … it’s possible that if the Bulls were to rally themselves into the play-in, Karnisovas would look at it as a moral victory.
I’m not sure that I can.
This team stumbled for almost 60 games without direction. If Beverley has provided that for them, great. But it shouldn’t have taken a late-season addition for the Bulls to get right, especially with three All-Stars on the roster.
My fear is that a play-in appearance equals confirmation bias for Karnisovas. The flaws of this team go far beyond them missing Ball. The end of the season needs to come with a clear-eyed evaluation of what has gone wrong since Ball’s injury — and a trip to the play-in could muddy the waters.
But I hope AK keeps this in mind: If the play-in tournament resides in a place where basketball doesn’t technically exist, a trip there is not worthy of celebration.
You can hear Laurence Holmes talk Chicago sports Monday to Friday from 10 a.m.-2 p.m. on 670 The Score with Dan Bernstein.
