The first day after any All-Star break carries with it a sense of renewal, but no matter how hard the Bulls try, the slate isn’t wiped completely clean.
Thus, approximately three minutes after a Monday evening practice session concluded and coach Bill Cartwright announced drastic changes to the starting lineup, he also was asked a question that has nagged this team all season.
Is it time for full-scale development yet?
In an interview with WGN-Ch. 9 that aired Sunday, club Chairman Jerry Reinsdorf publicly stated his expectation that the Bulls win 30 games this season and make the playoffs by next season.
After 41 games, the Bulls were on pace to win 30. But the recently concluded 0-5 trip has them currently on pace to win 28 games, and the loss of Marcus Fizer to a knee injury will make Reinsdorf’s goal more difficult to reach.
Perhaps such a sobering reality played a part in Cartwright’s decision to replace as starters a visibly miffed Jamal Crawford with Jay Williams, Trenton Hassell with Eddie Robinson and Tyson Chandler with Eddy Curry, the latter perhaps only on a temporary basis.
Chandler was scheduled to return with Williams on a 9:30 a.m. flight from Atlanta–where they both had participated in the Rookie Challenge game–but missed it. With the crush of outbound travelers departing All-Star weekend, several flights were sold out, leaving Chandler to catch a 5 p.m. flight, miss practice and ruffle Cartwright’s typical stoicism.
“I would say that you have to be responsible enough to get on a plane, get yourself to the airport early enough not to miss a flight,” Cartwright said. “Jay was down there and he got here on time. If he can do it, Tyson certainly can.”
The other lineup changes appear more permanent.
The organization clearly is counting on Williams as a centerpiece for the future, and general manager Jerry Krause continues to gauge interest in Crawford as the Feb. 20 trade deadline nears.
But Crawford so assumed that he would continue to start that he walked out with the starters for a drill Monday, only to have assistant Bill Berry ask Cartwright if the latter wanted to announce the new starters.
“Whatever,” Crawford said. “Nothing surprises me anymore. I’ve been through enough this year that it doesn’t even matter. I’ll just try to help the team, whatever it may be, come off the bench, provide a spark, whatever.”
Crawford had started the previous nine games, five as Williams sat on the injured list and the final four of a West Coast trip in which Cartwright committed to bringing Williams back slowly. Crawford averaged 10.4 points, 4.2 assists and 1.2 turnovers as the starter and the Bulls went 3-6.
In his first four games back after coming off the injured list, Williams averaged 6.3 points, 5.5 assists and two turnovers and flashed an aggressiveness that he maintains will be present from now on.
“It’s a difficult position with Jamal and I both out there,” Williams said. “Somebody’s going to be hurt and that’s how it is.”
Robinson reacted calmly to news he would make his third start, basically saying he’s claiming what he feels is rightfully his.
“That was one of my main reasons for coming here [as a free agent],” Robinson said. “I don’t think it’s pressure. I’ve been a starter in this league before so I know how to prepare myself. I plan on keeping it for the rest of the season.”
While the All-Star break doesn’t offer an actual second half–Tuesday’s game against Detroit is No. 50 of 82–it certainly presents a symbolic one. Last season Chandler’s minutes jumped 10.9 per game after the break and Curry’s increased 11.2.
But with a brutal upcoming schedule that features eight games in 12 days as well as the expectations of Reinsdorf, Cartwright must maintain a delicate balance–that of developing players while trying to win games.
“I can see Tyson and Eddy’s minutes increasing this year just by the fact that they’ve played well,” Cartwright said.
Reinsdorf isn’t putting any pressure on Cartwright that the coach already hasn’t put on himself. Still, Reinsdorf’s words signal the increasing demand on Cartwright and Krause–both of whom he praised in the interview–to show progress in Year 5 of rebuilding.
One form of progress is road victories. And for whatever this is worth, Cartwright said Stu Jackson, the league’s vice president of basketball operations, informed the Bulls that Chris Whitney’s game-tying three-pointer in Denver shouldn’t have counted because he stepped on the line.
That would have been one more victory in the quest for 30.
