Bulls' start reflects past, not future

It would be a cheap exaggeration to sit here today and suggest the Bulls' 0-3 start proves they need Kobe Bryant.

It is less a question of need than it is a function of availability.

The best player in the world is accessible and he can make your team much better. On top of that, you're the only team with the opportunity to make it happen, and you need to find a way to get him here.

It has nothing to do with 0-3.

We believe GM John Paxson and the Bulls still are trying to get Bryant and will continue until he's traded somewhere else or signs an extension with the Lakers, removing his ability to opt out.

Yes, the Bulls should trade for Bryant. On that point, we're already crystal clear.

But if the Bulls had won their first three games, it wouldn't have made a deal for Bryant any less logical or provided any shred of proof that the Bulls ought to stick with what they've got.

No, the ugly start says nothing about Bryant.

It does, however, say a lot about Kevin Garnett and the Bulls' reluctance in the past to part with their unproven talent in exchange for a top-five NBA player.

Check that. A top-five NBA player who can score from anywhere on the court, especially from the low post.

Unfortunately, watching the Bulls the first three games of this season looks no different from watching them during last season's playoffs. Or regular season. Or the season before that, and the season before that.

Their side-to-side offense is maddening to endure, but their inability to win if Ben Gordon doesn't catch fire would be comical if it weren't so painful.

Even when Gordon does rally the squad, he's criticized for an inability to hit game-winners with time running out.

Of course, what the critics fail to mention is that he's usually guarded in the final seconds by someone 6 inches taller, and often a teammate has drained the clock by the time Gordon forces up some ridiculous prayer from well behind the arc.

That scenario frequently plays out even when the game isn't on the line.

Captain Kirk Hinrich stands out on top and holds the ball, then dribbles around and fires it to Gordon, who has to throw up an off-balance shot from an unreachable distance.

And then Gordon takes the blame from all the same places about the terrible shots he takes.

He does take some bad shots, to be sure, but they're not all his fault, and when your teammates look afraid to shoot, sometimes you have to do it yourself.

On the other hand, there's the Bulls' offense, which still begins and ends with Hinrich.

Saturday night in Milwaukee, as the Bulls were attempting to rally, down 9 with about 3:40 to go, Hinrich killed the first 12 seconds of the clock before shoveling it to Andres Nocioni, who had no place to go.

Nocioni tossed it to Luol Deng, who was stuck in traffic, and he gave it to Gordon, four feet behind the 3-point line, four seconds left on the shot clock and smothered by a defender.

Gordon managed to shake his man and get a bail-out foul call on a shot he had no chance to make as the clock expired. It was a gift of a call, and Gordon sunk his free throws to salvage the possession.

But that pretty much sums up the Bulls' offense.

In the Detroit series last spring, coach Scott Skiles waited until the Bulls were hopelessly out of it before altering his offense and defense, but with terrific results.

Not that the 0-3 start is necessarily on Skiles -- the players look asleep, by the way -- but in that Pistons series after they were in a deep hole, the Bulls pressed, trapped, penetrated, ran more screens on top, attacked early in the clock and put length and youth on the floor early in the game.

Not only was it effective and energizing, but the players also appeared to be having fun, which was a shocking change of pace as their offensive and defensive flow was as fluid as it has been in years.

Still, as good as that was, it's a heck of a lot easier and there's more margin for error when you have an offensive and defensive force down low to open up the floor.

Garnett could have done that, and to a lesser extent Pau Gasol.

There's nothing to be done about that now, and Bryant, while a great player, doesn't help the Bulls today as much as Garnett would have helped a year ago and the year before that.

But Bryant can take the Bulls beyond where they're likely to go without him.

He's still out there, and it's hard to believe Paxson's going to make the same mistake again.

It's no tragedy to be 0-3 in an 82-game season.

But you don't want to wake up one day and find your great young team is no longer young and never turned out to be great, and that the assets you protected so lovingly are suddenly devalued and exposed.

That, my friends, would be a tragedy.

brozner@dailyherald.com