No matter where I go, I seem to get the same question. I know, you think it’s, “Why isn’t a hunk like you in Esquire?” Of course, I could say that I probably am, as I assume Esquire carries Metamucil ads.
No, the question I’m really asked is, “What happened to the Bulls this season?”
I could answer, “Nothing,” because they’re in the grip of a thrilling playoff race with Friday’s do-or-die game against the Atlanta No-Screeners. In this we-want-to-pretend-like-there’s-still-a-season-going-on race so you’ll read the newspaper, Friday probably ranks as the must-not-lose-yet-again game, with the Hawks eighth in the East and three games ahead.
This is all moot, of course, because the Bulls probably will not make the playoffs, not with seven of their nine April games against teams with winning records. And, at 10 games under .500 at best, they have no business being in the playoffs and would be wiped out anyway by top-seeded Boston.
That always leads to the question of whether it’s better to lose on purpose to get a better lottery position, although one might suggest the Bulls have been doing that already.
But the game transcends any individual or team benefit, and you never should embarrass it by failing to give your best. Play it out and get what you deserve.
Still, one would think it’s hard not to make the playoffs watching the Hawks lose to the Bulls Tuesday night without setting a single screen in the process. Now there’s a selfish team playing mostly one-on-one basketball with little teamwork.
As Michael Dukakis said of George Bush the Elder in 1988: “And I’m losing to this guy?”
So if the Bulls lose Friday it’s just about over. Mercifully?
I think back to October, after the Bulls’ last exhibition game when all seemed so positive. Though I’d been equally optimistic and assured everyone the Bulls were on the upswing, I had my doubts and wrote about the team seeming joyless, bothered by some unseen, heavy burden.
I got a call the next morning at home from Scott Skiles.
Usually that kind of call from a coach means he’s mad about something, but Skiles just wanted to talk. He said he was mystified as well, that he had started to see something similar after the first two weeks of training camp and wasn’t sure what to make of it.
He sensed fear, of failure, of living up to expectations and big contracts signed or perhaps about to be, of financial decisions and ramifications and media pressure. He wondered about Luol Deng and Ben Gordon and if one signed and the other didn’t, or if both signed and one was paid more, or if neither signed.
He wondered about Kirk Hinrich having signed and the team being the darling of preseason prognosticators.
There was nothing he could grab on to, sort of like smoke in the air, visible but amorphous. The players were competing hard in practice, shooting and running, but with a sort of emptiness.
Scott Skiles, existentialist.
Should the team have gathered up its assets and made a move? It seemed like everything was pointing in the right direction, so why bother? Deng and Gordon seemed on the cusp of greatness, or at least very goodness. The Bulls improved the previous season with Ben Wallace. Joe Smith looked like an offensive upgrade over P.J. Brown and a good team guy.
The Bulls were mostly young and still growing, but would they sustain?
We now know they didn’t. We don’t know for sure why. But we have learned that they had their time and it’s over.
It’s not time to cash in all the chips and start over in the lottery, but it’s time for major changes. The Eastern Conference remains filled with Atlantas, so you’re never too far away. Kevin Garnett can’t go on forever.
So what to do?
The draft offers a bit of intrigue, although perhaps not as much for the Bulls. The Memphis Grizzlies are going to have a high pick, and if they get No. 1 or 2, you can be sure they’ll take Memphis’ Derrick Rose. That would make rookie point guard Mike Conley, last year’s No. 4 overall pick, available. I’m sure the Grizzlies would take a Bulls lottery pick for Conley. Fellow point guard Kyle Lowery also figures to be available.
Among veteran players, you would figure the Jazz’s Andrei Kirilenko and his big contract would be available, and Jerry Sloan has long admired Hinrich. But the Bulls don’t have as much need for Kirilenko since adding Drew Gooden, who is serviceable and sort of a typical Bull: a decent piece, but not a star.
The Bulls don’t have any stars. We knew this last season. So did the Bulls. They acknowledged it; thus the flirtation with Kobe Bryant.
Larry Hughes is probably not tradeable with a salary averaging more than $13 million the next two seasons. He’s serviceable at shooting guard. Deng can be a solid small forward. Gooden is competent at power forward. And Joakim Noah can play center, with Aaron Gray as a backup.
My guess is the Bulls look to make their major change at point guard, and Hinrich could be their biggest asset.
The Washington Wizards say they want Gilbert Arenas back, but I can’t believe it, given the terrific season they’ve had by playing more a defense-oriented style without him. And with Arenas, coming off knee surgery, saying he’ll opt out and become an unrestricted free agent, he’s the guy to target.
He’ll cost a lot, a maximum deal, but you’ve got to take a shot if you’re the Bulls. You have to make it attractive for Washington because Arenas is one of the franchise’s most popular players ever.
Since the Bulls don’t have cap space this summer, it would likely require a sign-and-trade with the Wizards.
The Wizards would need a guard who plays defense to team with Antonio Daniels, and that would be Hinrich. They’d want some athletic front-court help, so perhaps Tyrus Thomas. I’d part with Gooden if they wanted him, or Noah.
I doubt they’d be interested in Ben Gordon, though you could look for a deal elsewhere with him. Maybe throw in that draft pick or exchange it for Washington’s — teams do pick for one another.
Arenas can negotiate after July 1. And with the value of the Bulls’ players substantially lower after this season, they are in poor position to drive a hard bargain to get a potential star.
The Wizards would bring back All-Stars Antawn Jamison and Caron Butler, and the improving DeShawn Stevenson.
Assuming their young big men continue developing, they would have the stars and the depth to make a real run instead of this season’s wonderful overachieving.
Arenas might be an undersized shooting guard, but he’s a star, with an outsized personality that would flourish in a big market.
Michael Jordan’s shadow? You can practically hear Arenas saying they’ll want to build a statue of him.
He’s a scorer, a performer and a personality who can breathe life into a franchise, though you’d have to scrap that notion of a defense-oriented coach because Arenas doesn’t do defense. It has to be up-tempo.
Why not, given the personnel? Hughes had his best season teaming with Arenas, who is his close friend. With Thabo Sefolosha, Deng and whatever big guys they keep or add they could have an intriguing team that will make Bulls fans forget this most forgettable season.
Even if no one has been able to figure it out.
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sasmith@tribune.com
