Zach LaVine wasn’t looking to be disrespectful.
Maybe it was the frustration of nine-straight losses, or the fact that the Bulls guard was a combined 8-for-26 in his last two games.
Either way, when he was asked about his team’s defensive woes since the calendar was flipped to 2019, specifically dealing with the trade of Justin Holiday to Memphis on Jan. 3, well, no wonder this team is still searching for real answers.
“I mean Justin is a good player, but I don’t think it’s just Justin, you know,’’ LaVine said. “I don’t know what it is. I mean Justin is a real good player, but I don’t think he’s something like where you take him off the team and he’s like LeBron James.’’
No, he’s not.
But the numbers since Holiday was moved are eye-popping.
Since coach Jim Boylen took over from Fred Hoiberg on Dec. 3, the Bulls allowed an average of 103.3 points per game in the 14 games Boylen had Holiday in the starting lineup. They also posted a 5-9 record in that time.
With Holiday now elsewhere and rookie Chandler Hutchison taking over that role of main defensive stopper, the Bulls have allowed an almost ridiculous 122.6 points per game and were 0-7 in that span.
A small sample size? Definitely, but one that can’t be ignored, either.
“Well, I think one thing is we traded one of our best defensive players, and we’re looking for someone else to step up,’’ Boylen said, when asked about all the slippage on the defensive end lately. “That’s an issue. We had a veteran guy that could guard, he’s a lockdown defender, and we’re looking for our young guys to grow into that role.
“We’ve had moments where they have, and that’s just part of it. Part of what we’re trying to do, which is give the young guys an opportunity to play. We’re learning about them, they’re learning what they have to do better, and that’s all a part of this season. A season of discovering what we have, what they can do, and what they need to work on.’’
That discovery isn’t turning up too many pretty things lately.
“He’s a great player, so obviously that’s part of this,’’ forward Lauri Markkanen said of life without Holiday. “We have players playing his minutes, so everybody has to step up. Yeah, he was a good player on defense and he was able to make some shots, so of course we miss him, but we can’t look back on that. We’ve just got to try and replace him.’’
Hutchison has been doing his best to pick up those Holiday minutes, but jumping from Boise State and having to guard the best-scoring wings in the world on a nightly basis is a big ask.
Wayne Selden, who came over in the Holiday deal, has seen his minutes increase off the bench, but again, he’s no Holiday defensively.
However, the bigger concern for the entire organization to look at is if losing a player like Holiday has completely disrupted the outcome of games, well, how talented was this roster in the first place?
That should be even more disturbing for the Bulls with 37 games left in the regular season.
“I mean we have our game plan and what we want to do, but it’s not about that,’’ Markkanen said. “We’ve got to play tougher.
“I feel like we’re not playing as tough as we played when [Boylen] first started as head coach. We’ve got to fix that for sure. I still feel like everything starts with defense.’’
