For the first time this season, Bulls general manager John Paxson declined to speak to reporters after Sunday’s practice at the Berto Center.
Paxson did so politely, cracking a joke as he moved toward his office, likely confident that his harsh rebuke after Wednesday’s 25-point home-opening loss to Washington applied similarly to Saturday’s 30-point debacle in Milwaukee.
Those losses are the kind that can put coaches on the hot seat, players on the trading block and general managers’ personnel moves in question.
Without Paxson to address that dynamic and whether the first three games represent an aberration or a trend, players were left to offer their thoughts.
And no one offered a more ringing show of support for coach Bill Cartwright than Tyson Chandler, whose calm tone belied the emphatic nature of his message.
“Coach can only coach so much before it’s time for us to get out there and play,” Chandler said. “Quit all the blaming. Quit all the pointing fingers. Stop blaming the coach. Blame each other. And step up as men. Step up as players.
“Step up and play. That’s all it’s about, getting out there and playing and playing hard. If we do that, we’ll win ballgames. It isn’t the coach out there jogging to spots. It isn’t the coach out there not helping on defense. It’s not the coach out there not rebounding. It’s us.”
Cartwright said the coaches are looking inward as well, and that it’s up to them to put struggling players like Marcus Fizer and Donyell Marshall in position to succeed offensively. He also stuck to his playoff guarantee, adding that three games into an 82-game schedule is no time to panic.
“Of course we’re going to the playoffs,” Cartwright said. “This feeling that if we don’t get off to a good start, the season isn’t going to be very good, I disagree with that.”
Never mind that management initiated that idea.
“We’re going to play very good basketball this season,” Cartwright said. “But this stuff doesn’t happen overnight. You can’t go from 0 to 60. This is where we are right now. We have some things we have to shore up, especially defensively, and some guys we have to get back to full strength.”
These first three games have revealed a Bulls team that doesn’t share or take care of the ball well, gets beaten downcourt consistently and doesn’t rotate to protect its paint well. The Bulls are allowing an average of 45.3 interior points.
Furthermore, the Bulls rank last in the league with a gruesome .335 field-goal percentage, a result of a combination of too many missed easy shots and too much one-on-one play. When the Bulls get down, the shots go up–and go up early on the shot clock.
“That’s it exactly,” Cartwright said. “We don’t have to do that. We play our best basketball when we move that thing.”
Players talked about an inability to transfer practice intensity to game situations. And lack of intensity or competitiveness is typically what fuels blowout losses.
With two such losses in their first three games, the Bulls have suffered 13 losses of 25 points or more in Cartwright’s 140 games as coach. For comparison, Tim Floyd presided over 28 such losses in his 239 games.
“It’s embarrassing anytime you lose by more than 50 points in two games,” said Jalen Rose, who watched film of both losses late Saturday. “There are no cliches or excuses.
“We get out here in practice and play hard. We foul each other when we drive to the basket. We contest shots. We play with energy and emotion. We have to find a way to transfer that to the guys with the other color shirts on.”
Cartwright spent time after practice working with Eddy Curry, who got benched 3 minutes 2 seconds into the third quarter after getting a shot blocked, committing two turnovers and failing to get back on defense.
Curry has been inconsistent, which is a huge concern for a team that placed such responsibility on him.
For now, Chandler is shouldering the load, although his sore back could sideline him anytime. Despite his tender age of 21, Chandler is becoming a leader with his energetic play on the court and his matter-of-fact assessments off it. And the third-year big man insists the Bulls aren’t pointing fingers.
Then again, that could be because the Bulls are too busy going one-on-one to do so.
“This is when the moment of truth is,” Chandler said. “When you’re down in the game, it’s the little things that will bring you back. You can’t go one-on-one. You can’t get out of the offense.
“It’s when a guy doesn’t step over on defense to help his teammate. Or when a guy doesn’t box out. Or when a guy doesn’t make the extra pass. Or when a guy doesn’t cut hard. I’m including myself in all of this. It’s all the little things that we have to do to come together as a team.”
Lopsided losses
In 140 games with Bill Cartwright as coach, the Bulls have been beaten by 25 or more points 13 times. Here are the details:
2002
DATE OPPONENT SCORE DIFF.
Feb. 15 New Jersey 106-81 25
March 5 at Washington 115-90 25
March 9 San Antonio 100-73 27
March 12 at Milwaukee 110-81 29
Nov. 8 Dallas 114-87 27
Dec. 3 New Orleans 115-90 25
2003
Jan. 2 Washington 107-82 25
Feb. 19 Philadelphia 110-82 28
March 12 at Memphis 124-95 29
March 14 at Houston 121-91 30
March 28 at Indiana 140-89 51
Oct. 29 Washington 99-74 25
Nov. 1 at Milwaukee 98-68 30
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