Imrem: A Chicago Bulls plan? Does it matter?

Chicago Bulls fans wonder about the plan.

Do the Bulls have a plan to get out of NBA purgatory? Is it anything like The Plan the Cubs executed? Can it be completed in fewer than 108 years?

The plan … what's the plan? … plan, plan, plan.

The answer is, there's no way out.

The Bulls' only plan Sunday night in the United Center was to not be embarrassed by the Philadelphia 76ers.

The Sixers came in hot enough to elevate their record all the way up to 17-28. Emerging star Joel Embiid was home resting. Injured star-in-waiting Ben Simmons remained out.

Losing to what was left would be more humiliating than the childish off-court silliness the Bulls perpetrated last week.

The Bulls managed to not descend further into an abyss, shaking the Sixers late for a 121-108 victory.

So here the Bulls are, one game under .500, in the Eastern Conference's seventh playoff slot and about to embark on a challenging six-game West Coast swing.

NBA purgatory, indeed.

Many around here are sick of the NBA middle and want the Bulls to embark on the journey the 76ers are on: Break it down to build it up.

It's the NBA version of what the Cubs and Blackhawks did to become champions.

Sounds great in theory. Sounds like a plan and possibly like The Plan. Sounds like hope on a rope.

Consider this: The Sixers are in the fifth season of their rebuild after drafting 11th, third, third and first the past four years.

"I don't know where you'd put us," 76ers coach Brett Brown said when asked for a timeline for the process.

Earlier Brown did mention "the infant stages."

Convert that to the Bulls and they still would be outside the playoffs in 2022 or 2023.

That's a plan?

"My opinion is we have a long way to go to where I want us to be," Brown said, meaning consistently among the NBA elite. "There's no shortcut."

Brown indicated that the young Sixers remain in the developmental/experimental stage.

"It takes time," Brown said, "it takes a lot of time."

Do season-ticket holders have the patience for that at the prices the Bulls ask of them?

Does Bulls management have the stomach to lose a significant segment of its fan base for a while?

If the Bulls go in that direction, their argument would be that they're smarter than the Sixers have been and would be ready to win sooner than later.

Smarter? Gar Forman and John Paxson? The front office that navigated the Bulls into their current predicament?

Since GarPax seem to have lifetime contracts with the Bulls, maybe this plan isn't such a good idea.

Another option is to keep collecting players here and there, third-line free agents, middle of the first round draftees, and mediocre Europeans.

That isn't a plan, either, unless the goal is to remain just inside or just outside of the lottery.

One more possibility exists: Rely on luck, as in improbably winning the first overall pick in the draft lottery.

Unfortunately for the Bulls, their once-a-century dose of good fortune came and went on Derrick Rose's fragile knees.

So, you see, planning on a plan won't work for the Bulls like it did for the Cubs.

Might as well just plan on being frustrated by this team for a couple more decades and settling for cheap thrills like beating the 76ers.

mimrem@dailyherald.com