Bulls hoping movie cliches and weak Eastern Conference can help turn season around

PORTLAND, Ore. — During the offseason, the narrative shoveled out by the Bulls’ organization focused on how hard every player was working and how chemistry was being built.

Throughout the preseason, the talk turned to playoff goals and the foundation pieces — Zach LaVine and Lauri Markkanen — taking the express elevator to stardom.

Twenty games into the regular season, we’re down to “development’’ and overdone movie clichés.

Welcome to Bulls basketball 2019-20, where — at least according to coach Jim Boylen — “if you build it, they will come.’’

After the 107-103 loss Friday night to the Trail Blazers, Boylen praised the fight and late-game competitiveness of his 6-14 team.

“We need to keep playing the way we’ve been playing, which is hard and together,’’ Boylen said. “The wins will come. Wins are always good, but we’re building this thing, we’ve got the blocks being laid, and I like our effort [Friday], I like our togetherness and I like our competitiveness.’’

When asked why on earth he thought victories would be forthcoming with the current roster, Boylen had a “Field of Dreams’’ moment and said, “If you build it, they will come. Seen that movie?’’

Yes, but at last check, the Bulls are nowhere near an Iowa cornfield.

So where is Boylen’s confidence coming from, especially when Bulls wins have been few and far between?

“I’m not going to dispute you on that,’’ Boylen said. “You’re right. I’m going to look at what I can teach better, what we need to learn, what we do well and do it better, what we don’t do well and fix it and do it better. That’s what I’m going to do. And I’ve got enough experience where I’ve seen if you do that, good things come, and that’s what I’m going to do.’’

Easily said. With this group of players, however, not so easily done.

And Boylen seems to be ignoring one key factor: the Bulls’ schedule so far.

These early games seemed like a good setup for a great start by the Bulls. Of their 20 games, only eight have been against teams with records of .500 or better, including the Bucks twice. The Bulls are 0-8 in those games.

Of the six victories, two have come against the Pistons, and the combined record of the teams they’ve beaten is 27-68 (.284).

And when you actually break down two of those victories, it took rookie Coby White making a franchise-record seven three-pointers in the fourth quarter to overcome the Knicks, and LaVine needed his “Reggie Miller’’ game in Charlotte to help the Bulls overcome an eight-point deficit in the final 45 seconds against the Hornets.

If not for historic performances and bad teams melting down, the Bulls easily could be 4-16.

That’s kind of the formula right now. Guard Kris Dunn admitted as much, insisting that he’s still positive about the rest of the season because there are

so many struggling teams, especially in the Eastern Conference. If the season ended Saturday afternoon, the Hornets would be the No. 8 seed with an 8-12 record.

“Absolutely,’’ Dunn said when asked if the season was salvageable. “You look at the standings right now, things aren’t going the way some teams would like it to go, and that’s actually good for us because we’re still learning, trying to figure each other out. Once we get a win and try to build off that, I think we can create a streak and start creeping up in the standings.’’

That’s the latest -narrative.

What a difference a few months make.