Don’t get too close to the sun… you may get burned. That’s exactly what happened to the Bulls on Wednesday night in Phoenix. The Western Conference leading Suns burned, actually, smoked the Bulls 132-113; I didn’t mind falling asleep in the 2nd half and missing the final score. Actually, all I needed to watch was the first 3 quarters, where Devin Booker scored 51 points, to understand the story of this game. I thought there was some kind of curse or something on guys like him who mess around with the Kardashians? Well, he couldn’t miss in this one, which is exactly what the Bulls continue to do.
I hate to bang on Zach again, but… he is the Bulls 37M dollar man; so far, not so great on that. He’s not even shooting 37% behind the arc, supposedly our number one 3 point guy. 1-6 from out there this game, and 34.8% for the year, he is really struggling; do I hear some more left knee management coming? In fact, he’s only shooting 40.7% from the floor overall. I would be stating the obvious if I said we needed Zach to play better, but I’ll do it anyways. Zach, we need you to play better. It’s too early to say the Bulls made a mistake maxing Zach out; I won’t say that… yet. I will say he definitely ain’t no Devin Booker, which honestly, would be a great ceiling for Lavine. Ways to go to reach that, but… we have time Zach; how many years on that deal? As the subsequent years go up, 40M, 43M, 46M… man, you better get to that ceiling buddy… no pressure.
In the meantime, the Bulls are 9-12, which makes for a pretty disappointing first quarter of the year. I did see something the other day that the Bulls had the hardest schedule thus far of any NBA team… that makes me feel a little better, although the Bulls had been doing well against the good teams. So although more “not-so-great” teams ahead should mean more Ws, will they really? Golden State, our next opponent on Friday night, appears ripe for the picking, only at 11-11 thus far. Regardless of how bad they have been thus far, a victory on the road against the defending NBA champs would certainly be a nice win. I always look forward to the next W…
The one other thing I’d like to look forward to is the return of Lonzo Ball; how’s that coming? One thing I read is he should be on track to return in the 2nd half; another thing said he’s nowhere close. Predicting his return seems as easy as predicting which Bulls team will take the floor each and every night. The way the Bulls are playing is telling me that we don’t have enough, and need Lonzo to return ASAP if we’re going to make any serious noise. To understand that, and to think that he may not return… hmmm… rough.
The guys on the floor have to be better, and it starts with Zach. Winning cures everything. Take the court on Friday night vs Golden State, and get some medicine. Go Bulls!
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