Can you define this Bulls team, its philosophy, its personality, its essence?
I can’t.
Is it Jimmy’s team? Derrick’s team? Pau’s team? Benny the Bull’s team? Who can say? More important, who cares?
Because “ownership” of this currently constructed team would be a dubious thing to claim. The Bulls went 42-40, played well some nights and horribly the next, beat good teams, lost to bad teams and, of course, didn’t make the playoffs for the first time in eight years.
“Leading” this team would be like leading a bunch of drunks in singing “Stairway to Heaven.” Or, better yet, that old Loretta Lynn and Conway Twitty standard, “You’re the Reason Our Kids Are Ugly.”
It’s hard to calculate who isn’t re-sponsible for some of this ugliness.
Let’s start with the starters.
Point guard Derrick Rose played fairly well after his broken eye socket healed, but he has shown that he has little leadership DNA in his double helix. People were excited that the forever-injured Rose only missed 16 games this season. (Did I mention the Bulls are not in the playoffs?)
Excuse me, but Michael Jordan did not miss 16 games (not counting his one-plus years of baseball adventure) in 11 straight seasons! From 1986 to 1998 — while winning six NBA titles — Jordan did not miss any of the Bulls’ 172 playoff games, either. That’s more than two full regular seasons of playoff games.
Rose has never played a full season. He never will. Enough said.
Jimmy Butler, shooting guard. A terrific, still-developing talent, Butler had an odd trashing of coach Fred Hoiberg during the season, saying young Fred wasn’t hard enough on the team. Not good.
Then, too, Butler seems lacking in the leadership department, which might explain some of his erraticism. For example, he rang up 28 points, 17 rebounds, 12 assists and three steals against the Detroit Pistons on April 2, and three days later he had just five points, four rebounds, two assists and one steal against the Memphis Grizzlies in about the same amount of playing time.
Most bizarre, though, was his career-high 53 points on the road against the Philadelphia 76ers in mid-January, followed by four points the next night at home against the Dallas Mavericks.
Pau Gasol, center. Good, big ol’ guy with leaden feet but a gold touch. These days, you can’t lead from the center position, and that’s a pity because Gasol is considered by many to be the brightest man in the NBA. He did what he could, scoring and rebounding, but his defense was bad, and he slowed the team down on offense.
Mike Dunleavy, small forward. Out with a bad back early, he’s playing because young Tony Snell has fallen back and young Doug McDermott hustles but looks overmatched by the NBA game. Dunleavy is a placeholder until something better comes along.
Taj Gibson, power forward. Taj is a backup who is starting. Nikola Mirotic has been groomed as a starter — did, indeed, start at the beginning of the year. But Mirotic is more undependable than a bike tire patched with bubble gum. Will he be on or off? Hold or blow? In late March, he had six points in a game, then 35, then eight, four and five, then 28 and 28, followed by six. A roller coaster is more stable.
Which brings us to Hoiberg, the first-year coach, straight from Iowa State. He replaced a very successful, if prickly, coach in Tom Thibodeau. Hush your identical-to-Tim Floyd-replacing-Phil Jackson analysis! But, yes, sorry, this looks a bit like Floyd 2.0.
Hoiberg sometimes appears sedated during games. It’s cool that he’s not screaming at players who might have little respect for a former college coach. But nobody knows what the Bulls are supposed to be under him except good at offense — which means scattered, with a chance of breeziness.
Next, John Paxson, president of basketball operations, and general manager Gar Forman. Bulls chairman Jerry Reinsdorf supports Paxson the way a mother blue jay supports her chick. That’s his style. (Ask the White Sox’ Ken Williams and Hawk Harrelson.) And Paxson supports Forman. But what has either done to deserve support?
Uh, trouble here.
The Bulls were supposedly built for a championship run — not just a playoff run. Remember when the target was LeBron James’ Cleveland Cavaliers? About eight months ago? Now that bull’s-eye might be the Charlotte Hornets. At least they’re in the playoffs.
Trades will happen. Players will be cut. The draft gives hope. And maybe injured Joakim Noah will rise up and be again what he once was.
But right now?
The Bulls are a mess.
Follow me on Twitter @ricktelander.
Email: rtelander@suntimes.com
