There will be no team meeting.
Not if Jimmy Butler has a say in it.
“That’s all hype, man,’’ the Bulls two-time All-Star said, when asked about a closed-door meeting with his teammates. “We know what we’re capable of doing, we know what we need to do. You don’t need to sit in a circle and hold each other’s hands and talk about all that. We don’t talk that much on the floor, and that’s where the problems begin. We need to be vocal. We don’t need to sit in a circle and pat each other on the back.’’
Not the only idea Butler was against after a third consecutive loss.
He also downplayed the idea that there’s now a definite blueprint to beating the Bulls. Younger, quicker athletes flying down the court, running them right out of the gym.
It was on display for all to see throughout the week.
Minnesota pulled it off in coming back from a 21-point deficit on Tuesday, while Milwaukee’s Giannis Antetokounmpo and Jabari Parker dominated the Bulls in a back-to-back, home-and-home series on Thursday and Friday.
“They play hard,’’ Butler said of what those two teams also had in common. “I don’t think it’s kryptonite. At any point or time in a game, we’re not doing what we’re supposed to be doing. Whether it’s getting back, whether it’s we’re showing. That mistake leads to somebody not talking the next time down, and the next time down.
“No, no, no [blueprint]. We don’t care if they’re young, athletic, up and down. We talk about it before the game on how we need to get back and when we don’t the game gets out of hand very quickly. Very quickly.’’
But there are some numbers that Butler can’t deny. And they have more to do with what’s on the birth certificates of his teammates rather than the back of the basketball cards.
Dwyane Wade is about to turn 35 years old. Rajon Rondo is 30. Taj Gibson 31. At 27, Butler is the baby of the starting five.
Add in all the extra playoff basketball on the legs of Wade and Rondo, and well, this week happened.
If only it was that simple, however.
Yes, both the Timberwolves and the Bucks used a similar game plan, but the fact that the Bulls put up very little fight in allowing it to happen is the real concern.
“Collectively we’ve got to find a way out of it,’’ coach Fred Hoiberg said of the rut. “Gotta find a way to regroup. Do it together, stay together through this rough patch. The only way we know how is to work. I still believe in these guys. I believe in us collectively, and gotta find a way to do it together.’’
That’s also where the suddenly 13-13 Bulls are these days: Talking about what they need to do to get out of the rut, but using clichés as an explanation of how they plan to do just that.
“I thought that we were as good as any team in the league as far as our togetherness early in the season,’’ Hoiberg said. “We had some very successful stretches when we were playing that way. Now we’ve got to find a way to get back to that. These guys generally do like each other, and we’ve got to find a way to do it as a group. Coaches, players, we’re all accountable, and it starts with me. I’ve got to get us playing more consistently.’’
Just don’t count on a team meeting. Not if it’s up to Butler.
