MILWAUKEE – In the next week or so, Jim Boylen expects those roster conversations he has with his front office to get tougher.
The Feb. 6 NBA trade deadline is only getting closer, and the Bulls coach has been around long enough to know the business of basketball isn’t always pleasant.
Boylen, however, surprisingly insisted that he wants the current band to stay intact.
“Yeah, absolutely,’’ Boylen said, when asked if he was hoping the front office would stay the course with this group. “I’ve said before we have a hard-working, high-character group of guys and guys who are willing to be coached and willing to work. That’s a credit to them. Those are things I think are important.’’
They may be important, but they’re not winning.
Thanks to the 111-98 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks on Monday, the Bulls are now 16-29 on the season, 1-18 against teams .500 or better, and more importantly, still looking like a roster that was built on a weak foundation.
“I’m not a fool to think we don’t discuss things, and things don’t come up and people don’t call us,’’ Boylen said of the trade discussions. “That’s part of the league.
“We have not discussed a whole bunch of that yet. I think there will be an opportunity to do that. I’m sure people are calling us. That’s how the league works. I’m sure in the next five to seven days we’ll sit down and talk about it, see what’s coming in and where it’s at. We’re going to try to focus on winning games and playing good basketball.
“Those things are where my focus is.’’
Areas that obviously need more focus.
Like a bad script being written over and over again, the Bulls played well against the Bucks in the first half, went into the halftime locker room, and upon returning for the second half were out-played, out-coached, out-talented, and out-hustled in every way.
That’s how a 53-52 one-point deficit was stretched out to as many as 16 in that third stanza. Sure, there were a few body blows thrown by the visiting team in the final quarter, but glancing blows that did little damage, as the Bucks were led by Giannis Antetokounmpo and his triple-double of 28 points, 14 rebounds and 10 assists.
On the Bulls side of things, Zach LaVine has his usual 24-point performance, while Lauri Markkanen had another disappearing act, scoring just eight points on 2-for-11 shooting.
It was once again time to interrogate the 7-footer, starting with does he feel he’s being used correctly in this offense.
“There’s days we look really good and we play really good basketball, and sometimes we get stagnant,’’ Markkanen said. “Just have to figure out what it is and make it consistent.
“If you shoot the ball like [I have], you don’t really deserve touches. Can’t really complain. A lot of our plays I screen and screen-pop.’’
That has seemingly made Markkanen nothing more than a spot-up shooter, and he agreed with that.
“Yeah, I think I can do a lot of good things besides just shoot threes,’’ Markkanen said. “Haven’t really been able to do that lately. Just have to figure out the way I can attack the rim more and get to the free throw line.’’
Markkanen said he has talked to Boylen about it, and it’s on him to make the plays when they are called for him.
Boylen’s side of it is he will continue to try and get Markkanen going, and still believes in him.
“I know he cares,’’ Boylen said. “I believe in him and our team believes in him. Do I believe in him? Yeah, I believe in him.’’
