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5 reasons why the Chicago Bulls are struggling

Before assessing the Bulls at the all-star break, try to think back to a month ago.

The Bulls were rolling, 10 games above .500, and looking like Cleveland's closest competition in the Eastern Conference. The No. 2 playoff seed was almost inevitable.

That feels like forgotten history now. The nose-dive began with a Jan. 9 loss in Atlanta and continued through Wednesday's 113-90 thrashing by the Hawks at the United Center. Less than a week after the first loss to Atlanta, Joakim Noah suffered a season-ending shoulder injury. Then the Bulls lost Nikola Mirotic (appendicitis) and Jimmy Butler (knee) to injuries, and the descent accelerated.

The Bulls (27-25) have gone 5-13 since Jan. 9 and are in danger of missing the playoffs. Thursday morning, they were seventh in the East, one game head of ninth-place Detroit.

It is possible to pull out of a tailspin. Early in the 2013-14 season, after Derrick Rose suffered his second season-ending knee injury, the Bulls went through a 3-13 stretch. They bottomed out at 7 games under .500, but recovered to finish 48-34, even getting homecourt advantage in the first round of the playoffs.

That was a different team and coaching staff.

In the interest of midseason report accuracy, let's rank the reasons why the Bulls are playing so poorly:

1. Too many young players.

We probably should have seen this coming before the season. The Bulls were billed as a deep team, but Mike Dunleavy's recovery from September back surgery meant heavy minutes for Tony Snell, Doug McDermott and Mirotic. Not one has given the Bulls consistently strong results.

Since losing Noah and Mirotic, rookie Bobby Portis has joined the young and often confused rotation. With backup point guard Aaron Brooks not playing well this month, the Bulls aren't getting much from the bench.

The young players have talent, but don't know how to win. So much of the Bulls' slump has been about not doing the small things well, especially on defense. Maybe Dunleavy's return will help, but the coaching staff faces an uphill battle with this roster. There was a reason Tom Thibodeau barely used Butler as a rookie.

2. Too many injuries.

Sure, injuries can be a cop out. The Bulls won plenty of games in recent years without Rose and others. Taj Gibson paid homage to one of Thibodeau's favorite sayings after the Atlanta loss.

“It's very frustrating because we have more than enough to win,” Gibson said. “We used to win games with less than this. I think it's just mental. It's extremely frustrating.”

Gibson may have fond memories of the old days, but the Bulls had an experienced supporting cast then. Nate Robinson, D.J. Augustin and John Lucas III had experience before they led the Bulls to some improbable wins.

3. A lack of competitive spirit.

Slow starts are a problem at times for the Bulls, but a more persistent issue is how they crumble when things unravel. This group simply does not know how to adjust when opponents go on a run.

Bad behavior seems to spread like a virus with this group. They get mad at each other about missed defensive assignments, yet the whole team seems confused defensively quite often. Or when one player takes a quick shot, the ball stops moving and everyone starts firing at will.

Here's Hoiberg after Wednesday's loss: “We came down and just started jacking up shots. We quit playing the right way. The first quarter we were moving it, had 10 assists and they picked it up and we stopped playing the right way and that contributed to them blowing the game open.”

Hoiberg's not lying. Ball movement is directly related to the Bulls' success.

4. A strange, quiet chemistry.

This Bulls team doesn't have any flat-out conflicts. The players seem to like each other and get along.

While the team's big three of Butler, Rose and Gasol has worked well together at times, those players don't seem to combine for effective team leadership.

Rose prefers to blend into the background. Gasol does what he does in a distinguished manner, but doesn't always go the extra mile to help his team. Butler leads by example, but also seems frustrated when teammates don't match his work ethic.

Noah is the natural leader, but he's injured and Butler somewhat undermined Noah's role by declaring before the season he planned to contribute as a vocal leader.

Well-functioning NBA teams are on display frequently. When the Spurs or Warriors go into timeouts, the players often do all the talking while the coaches barely have to say anything. The Bulls don't have that easy communication among their players.

5. They won't follow instructions.

Thibodeau was famous for repeating pet phrases frequently. It was his way of avoiding controversy, or maybe just a disdain for saying anything interesting.

Hoiberg became a broken record himself, asking his players to share the ball, push the tempo and talk on defense. Those are simple messages, so why won't they execute?

The injuries and roster shortcomings aren't Hoiberg's fault. But this is his first time as an NBA coach and until he proves he can get the job done, there will always be doubts about the wisdom of last year's coaching change. Whatever the cause, Hoiberg's messages are not sinking in.

There may be no trades on the horizon, so the Bulls need to figure out for themselves how to salvage this sinking ship. Improved health will help, but some other factors won't be as easy to fix.

• Get the latest Bulls news via Twitter @McGrawDHBulls.

Chicago Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg watches in the first quarter of an NBA basketball game against the Minnesota Timberwolves, Saturday, Feb. 6, 2016, in Minneapolis. The Timberwolves won 112-105. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)
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