During last night’s seventh loss in ten games at the hands of the visiting New York Knicks, the Bulls submitted their last-minute nominee for the Shaqtin’ A Fool blooper of the year. This season has been nothing short of another disappointment for the Bulls, staring down the barrel of another win-or-go-home Play-In Tournament pair of games. They’ll first see the Atlanta Hawks, likely in the United Center, and then travel to Philadelphia or Miami to fight for the final spot in the 2024 NBA Playoffs if they can win two in a row. Last year, they fell short in Miami in a similar situation they find themselves in again as the regular season concludes. Donate just under a minute to catch up on the entirety of the Chicago Bulls 2023-24 campaign in one video linked below.
“We Did Some Really Dumb Stuff Tonight”
The only bright side to last night’s embarrassing loss was Coby White setting the franchise record for three-point field goals made in a season with 205 and counting. Any other season, he’d be the runaway favorite for the NBA’s Most Improved Player. However, with Tyrese Maxey’s emergence and Joel Embiid’s injury pushing even more responsibility on the already All-Star talented guard’s plate, it’s his award to lose. White has improved his points per game by nearly ten, and despite attempting seven more field goals and three more three-point shots per game, he has also improved his overall and three-point percentages from the field. His rebounds and assists per game have also improved by nearly two and three, respectively, and being in line to play 79 of the 82 games would be a career-high.
As for the less-than-stellar portion of the night, a blowout on their home floor combined with a self-alley oop attempt while down nine in the second quarter made for quite the eye sore. To add insult, Andre Drummond exited the game immediately following the blunder with what appeared to be an ankle injury. Missing him in the Play-In Tournament would significantly hinder Chicago’s second unit and rebounding abilities.
Shaqtin’ A Fool – Torrey Craig Edition
Five games under the .500 mark and 3-7 in their last ten outings, the timing of Craig’s spoof could not have been worse. It’s a video that needs no introduction; welcome to being a Bulls fan.
The head-scratching begins with the decision to lob it off the backboard to himself, which he quickly learned was a poor choice. The clip continues to hurt when seeing Drummond, who’s provided much of the soul of this Chicago team, especially when Nikola Vucevic was sidelined earlier in the year, went down to an injury on the very next possession. Billy Donovan’s quick timeout put the hammer down on the ridiculousness as soon as possible.
With only three games until Chicago meets Atlanta and enters a win-or-done scenario, this team looks anything but prepared for a playoff push. Staring into a summer full of potentially franchise-altering decisions, is this the last of the continuity throughout Arturas Karnisovas’s consistently failing roster?
Time to rid the team of the waste lonzo ‘I can’t play’ Ball. Quit waiting find someone that actually plays for the team.