Mike Dunleavy pulls no punches in addressing lack of togetherness

Mike Dunleavy didn’t name names.

The veteran Bulls forward didn’t have to.

Too many big egos, too many different agendas, too many days of lacking an urgency. Pick a problem that can turn promise into disappointment for an NBA team, and this year’s Bulls displayed it.

Dunleavy was asked on Wednesday about this team, and if there were too many players with different agendas which led to a group that wasn’t very close, and pulled no punches.

“Yeah, it’s hard to pinpoint what that is,’’ Dunleavy said. “When I first came here three years ago, you know we dealt with a lot of adversity, but we were really tied in as a group, and it’s kind of, you know, fallen apart a little bit.

“So we got to get that back together, we got to get a better spirit, and we’ve got to play better on the court and win more basketball games.’’

The concern, however, is with so many players under contract for next season, there’s a good chance that free agent-to-be Joakim Noah, as well as Pau Gasol opting out of his deal, would be the only changes made.

That means a lot of the same players, and what could be a lot of the same problems.

“Yeah, that’s the big question,’’ Dunleavy said. “That’s the challenge. Can that be done? There’s been a lot of adversity and tough things for guys that have gone through for the past few years here, so you’ve got to get through that mental block.

“Look, they may make changes, they may try and make changes, but there’s a lot of guys next year on this team that are under contract and there might be a lot of the same guys back. You got to make it work. Otherwise everybody is going to be miserable, so hopefully the learning experience of not making the playoffs … these guys on Saturday and Sunday this weekend, it’s going to be tough. These guys that haven’t made the playoffs before, they don’t know what they’re getting into to turn on these games. It’s miserable, so hopefully you take it as that, come back next year and if there’s no changes we’ve got to be better.’’

That was the theme throughout most of Wednesday’s regular-season finale with Philadelphia – getting better.

Rookie coach Fred Hoiberg was again front and center in that line at the mirror.

“We could’ve been in a different position now but we’re not,’’ Hoiberg said once again. “I take a lot of accountability for those issues. We need to address those things to be better going into next year.

“I need to be better and I will be.’’

At least some of his players are expecting that from Hoiberg.

“I think it’s a learning experience,’’ Dunleavy said. “Fred will tell you that too. He’s been through a lot this year, some ups and downs and learned some stuff. I think he’s a smart guy, loves the game, and he knows a great deal about it. He’ll continue to get better and come back next year and do a really good job.

“How do you carry out what the coaching staff is asking you to do in a better way? I guess the answer is straight up listen. Execute. Just be more dialed in. I think we had some slippage this year, some meandering around, things were done unpurposefully.

“Hopefully this is a learning experience and wakeup call for people. But yeah, we have to be better. We have to be more tied in next year.’’