Thaddeus Young’s minutes remained a compelling topic Friday, when the veteran forward saw an uptick from his 21.6-minute average to 26.3 against the visiting Hornets.
Go ahead and call that progress — maybe the only progress for the Bulls on this night.
Thanks to continued dismal shooting and another underachieving performance against a team they should beat on paper, the Bulls fell to 9-18 on the season with a 83-73 loss at the United Center. Their 73 points were the fewest by an NBA team so far this season — and just the start of the ugly numbers. The Bulls shot 27-for-90 from the field and 7-for-34 (20.6 percent) from three-point range and were outrebounded 60-45.
“The shots didn’t fall,” forward Lauri Markkanen said. “There’s a lot of things execution-wise that we obviously didn’t do.”
Markkanen was just one of the culprits there, shooting 4-for-12 and finishing with 10 points. At one point in the second half, he sat for more than 14 straight minutes because of what coach Jim Boylen deemed poor play by all the starters.
Maybe that’s why Young (10 points, five rebounds) got more time. Earlier in the week, he was said to be upset with his lack of playing time, with the insinuation he might seek to be moved elsewhere if the Bulls continued to underuse him.
Young, who saw the reports, didn’t deny his unhappiness.
“Obviously the circumstances are not the best-case scenario, but at the end of the day I love my teammates — I go to war with them each and every day,’’ he said. “Love being able to help some of the guys get better. I love going out there and having fun with these guys, playing games.
“Like I said, the situation is not the best-case scenario . . . simply because I am playing 20 minutes a game, but if Coach sees fit to play me 20, sees fit to play me 25, 30, I’m with whatever he decides. He’s the man in charge. He’s our chief, and we’ve got to be able to go out there and follow behind our chief.”
Besides his minutes, Young is also unhappy about the Bulls not closing out games consistently. According to a source, the conversations he had with the Bulls in his free-agent process are not being delivered.
Young hinted at that when asked.
“The conversations in the offseason were the conversations in the offseason,” he said. “But going into the season, things change and come out a little bit differently.”
Boylen was asked about the conversations he had with Young, and if the Young was promised an amount of minutes or how he would be used.
“I talked about leadership, and building, and what we’re trying to do here,” Boylen said. “I think everybody wants more minutes. I think that’s part of the league. He’s a competitive person, he’s a good person, he’s a guy that wants to help the team win and he feels he can. I have no problem with him wanting more minutes, him wanting to be in the game longer. That’s what you’re supposed to want to do.”
