The Chicago Bulls are a mess right now. The team sits at 10-35 on the season after getting thrashed by Denver on Thursday night — the Nuggets won, 135-105, marking Chicago’s ninth loss in a row. That includes five losses on a west coast swing that included three defeats by double-digits. While Chicago will head home to play Miami on Saturday, it’s awfully hard to find any optimism in the Windy City when it comes to their basketball team.
Following the loss, starting guard Zach LaVine lamented on the problems facing the Bulls right now. He managed to sum it all up in one quote, mentioning that while every has to do something to get on track, for now, opponents cannot wait for the chance to play against them.
Zach LaVine: "We’re getting blown out every game. People are licking their chops, looking at us on the schedule, marking this game off. It’s not like it’s going to stop. We have to do something."
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 18, 2019
It’s kind of a stunning quote from LaVine, who couldn’t have seen struggles to this extent coming when he signed a four-year contract extension with the squad over the summer. As for one issue that can afford to be corrected, both head coach Jim Boylen and starting big man Lauri Markkanen believe Chicago needs to start getting tougher.
Boylen: “We weren’t tough enough or physical enough.”
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 18, 2019
Lauri Markkanen: "I don’t know how many loose balls they got versus us. I thought they beat us on that. That tells a lot about effort. It’s all of us. We have to play tougher."
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 18, 2019
There might not be a team in the NBA that needs the All-Star break more than the Bulls. Things are obviously going awry in what has been a lost season for the franchise, and now, Chicago needs to figure out how to get things back on the rails to salvage something this year.
