Business as usual.
That’s what it sounded like at the Advocate Center on Wednesday afternoon, just 24 hours from the trade deadline expiring, and 27 hours from the man-child that is Zion Williamson reminding the Bulls front office what a young superstar player actually looks like.
And that remains the problem with this organization – it’s always business as usual.
Over-valuing their own roster to make a trade almost impossible, afraid to push the chips in on this rebuild and admit it’s failed, and an inability to flat-out just be creative.
“I don’t think there’s much going on,’’ coach Jim Boylen said, admitting that he’s been in constant contact with his vice president of basketball operations in John Paxson and general manager Gar Forman. “I think overall it’s been light around the league, not only us. There was one big trade [the four-team deal], but we all kind of saw that coming. So we’ll wait to see. We’ve got another day. Sometimes things pick up, sometimes they don’t. We’ll just worry about coaching our guys, develop our guys.’’
Develop what, exactly?
Mediocrity.
Even if this rotation was up, running and healthy, where exactly was it going? Maybe the No. 8 spot in the playoffs, only to be a first-round chew toy for Milwaukee? That’s not what Paxson and Forman promised when they blew up the roster for the rebuild back in 2017, trading an elite two-way star in Jimmy Butler for Zach LaVine, Kris Dunn and the draft pick that became Lauri Markkanen.
They promised a run at a championship.
It’s Year 3, and it’s another run at the lottery.
That’s why Paxson needs to make one more call before 2 p.m. tomorrow. A first real step in righting the ship.
Philadelphia has put the fun in dysfunction. Even more so than the Bulls. The 76ers are broken.
“There’s some stuff going on in our locker room,’’ veteran big man Al Horford said to reporters the other night.
With All-Stars Joel Embiid and Ben Simmons still looking like they’re unable to figure out how to play with one another, why not swing for the fences if you’re Paxson?
Embiid for LaVine and Wendell Carter.
Done and done.
The 76ers get another scoring, multi-ball-handler in LaVine, and have Carter as the center-in-waiting, able to learn from a vet like Horford.
The Bulls finally get a superstar in Embiid. Flawed because of his injury history? Sure, but if they are serious about building something special, they’ll need two superstars. Embiid is one, and once Otto Porter Jr. and Thaddeus Young come off the books, they shop for a second.
Coby White steps into LaVine’s combo guard spot, and Markkanen no longer has the pressure of playing minutes at the five.
Will it happen? Nope.
“We have not talked in those terms,’’ Boylen said, when asked if a major deal was possible for his franchise. “As far as a big shakeup or a change in direction, we have not talked in that way. We have not.’’
That’s why it’s fitting that Williamson and the Pelicans are in town hours after the deadline has passed. Like the Bulls, they traded an elite two-way player in Anthony Davis, opting to go the rebuild route. But in less than six months, the New Orleans rebuild is so much better, even before they hit lottery gold and grabbed Williamson with the No. 1 overall pick.
“He’s a physical specimen, one of those once-in-a-lifetime type players, very athletic, super athletic with a big, wide body,’’ Young said of the Williamson takeover. “You see some of the stuff on Twitter where he’s like Thanos and stuff like that, I think it’s pretty funny.’’
Well, at least someone at the Advocate Center is laughing these days.
