Carter Jr. wants to help Bulls work on their togetherness
There probably is no solution to improve the Bulls right now, beyond getting healthy.
The three-game gauntlet against the best teams in the East went about as poorly as expected. Other than a nice first half in Milwaukee on Friday, the Bulls were not competitive against the Celtics, Bucks and Raptors.
Rookie Wendell Carter Jr. had a suggestion for helping get the short-handed Bulls on the same page. He mentioned it after the Boston game, then talked in depth after the ugly 39-point loss to Toronto on Saturday.
"I just feel like we separate a little too much, especially when times get hard," Carter said. "No matter how old I am, I feel like that's a simple fix for me. I try to step up in that leadership type of role, try to pull everybody together, but it's hard at times for sure.
"During timeouts especially, everybody's got different things on their mind. It's hard for them all to come together on one thing. But that's something we've all got to work on. We've got time. It's the 17th game."
The overlying problem for the Bulls is just a lack of talent, with Lauri Markkanen, Kris Dunn, Bobby Portis and Denzel Valentine sidelined for an extended period. Top scorer Zach LaVine missed Saturday's loss with an illness.
But within games, this group doesn't handle adversity well. When things start to go poorly, the Bulls often sink into an endless loop of guys trying to do too much, losing the ball and starting fast breaks in the other direction. Once the pace of the game speeds up, the mistakes happen more frequently and the snowball is barreling downhill.
"Things can turn really quickly, in a matter of a couple minutes," Carter said. "I feel like we kind of go away in our separate ways, not even in a bad way, just in a good way feeling like we've got the game won. Then they knock off a couple 3s, get a lot of stops, now we're looking at one another trying to point fingers sometimes. I feel like that's not going to be successful for us."
Carter certainly has a point. The Bulls could do a better job of settling down when opponents go on a run, working together to create quality possessions, rather than reverting to hero-ball.
But nothing will help more than getting some players back. Since the Bulls don't play again until Wednesday against Phoenix, LaVine should be healthy again. Markkanen appears close to returning to practice and could conceivably be back in a week or so. Dunn and Portis are probably at least 2 weeks away from returning from knee sprains, while Valentine's status is unknown with a lingering ankle problem.
Coach Fred Hoiberg is hoping to use the two practice days to work on those issues. The Bulls will have a busy holiday weekend, with Phoenix on Wednesday, Miami on Friday, then a quick road trip to Minnesota on Saturday.
Carter should get his first NBA matchup with No. 1 overall draft pick DeAndre Ayton on Wednesday. As much as he wants to help the Bulls smooth out their rough patches, he knows there's only so much he can do.
"There is a place for a rookie," he said. "I can't just come in and tell players, teammates how I feel or what I think should be done or anything like that. It should honestly be the other way around where I should be listening to them, letting them tell me what to do."
Twitter: @McGrawDHBulls