PORTLAND – During the offseason, the narrative being shoveled out by the organization was how hard every player was working, and how chemistry was being built.
Throughout the preseason, it was talk of playoff goals, and the foundation pieces in Zach LaVine and Lauri Markkanen taking the express elevator to stardom.
Twenty games into the regular season, it’s “development,’’ and overdone movie clichés.
Welcome to Bulls basketball 2019-20, where – at least according to coach Jim Boylen, “If you build it they will come.’’
After the Friday night four-point loss to the Trail Blazers, Boylen praised the fight and the late-game competitiveness of his 6-14 team.
“We need to keep playing the way we’ve been playing, which is hard and together,’’ Boylen said. “The wins will come. Wins are always good, but we’re building this thing, we’ve got the blocks being laid, and I like our effort [Friday], I like our togetherness, and I like our competitiveness.’’
Asked why on earth he thinks the wins will come with this roster, that’s when Boylen summoned his “Field of Dreams’’ moment and responded, “If you build it they will come. Seen that movie?’’
Yes, but at last check the Bulls are nowhere near an Iowa cornfield.
So where is Boylen’s confidence coming from, especially when it was pointed out that victories haven’t exactly been coming around and knocking on the Bulls’ door very often?
“I’m not going to dispute you on that,’’ Boylen said. “You’re right. I’m going to look at what I can teach better, what we need to learn, what we do well, and do it better. What we don’t do well, and fix it and do it better. That’s what I’m going to do. And I’ve got enough experience where I’ve seen if you do that good things come, and that’s what I’m going to do.’’
Easily said. With this current roster, however, not so easily done.
And one key point that Boylen seems to be ignoring? His schedule so far.
This was setup for a great start by the Bulls. Of the 20 games the Bulls have played, only eight have been against teams with a record of .500 or better, and that included Milwaukee twice. The Bulls are 0-8 in those games.
Of the six wins, two have come against Detroit, and the combined record of all the teams they’ve beaten is 27-68 (.284).
Then actually break down two of those wins. It took rookie Coby White a franchise record seven three-pointers in the fourth quarter to overcome the Knicks, and then LaVine’s “Reggie Miller’’ game in Charlotte, in which he became just the third player in the Association’s history to hit 13 three-pointers in a game, as the Bulls overcame an eight-point deficit in the final 45 seconds.
Historic performances and bad teams melting down, or the Bulls could easily have just four wins.
That’s kind of the formula right now.
Guard Kris Dunn even admitted as much, insisting that he’s still positive about the rest of the season because of how many struggling teams there currently are, especially in the Eastern Conference. If the season was to end on Saturday afternoon, the Hornets would win the No. 8 seed with an 8-12 record.
“Absolutely,’’ Dunn replied, when asked if the season was still salvageable. “You look at the standings right now, things aren’t going the way some teams would like it to go, and that’s actually good for us because we’re still learning, trying to figure each other out. Once we get a win and try and build off of that, I think we can create a streak and start creeping up in the standings.’’
That’s the new narrative.
What a difference a few months make.
