Bulls Open 'Do-Or-Die' Week With Team Meeting To Vent
By Cody Westerlund--
CHICAGO (CBS) – Amid a season that started with promise before turning from trying to dysfunctional and edging toward disastrous, the Bulls have played any number of cards to deal with turmoil.
Early on, it was All-Star wing Jimmy Butler partaking in a coup by proclaiming himself the team leader to lean on in tough times. Just before Christmas, it was executive vice president of basketball operations John Paxson stepping in with a rally speech. More recently, coach Fred Hoiberg went so far as to show an Animal House clip to lift team spirit and remind there was still time to make a playoff push.
The Bulls may have played their last card Sunday.
Before a noon hour practice at the Advocate Center, the Bulls held a team meeting between players and coaches – no front office members – that served as an airing of grievances, one in which Hoiberg confirmed voices were raised. There's been plenty to grieve and yell about lately, with the Bulls losing three straight and sitting in ninth place in the East, two games out of a playoff spot and offering little evidence that a turnaround is coming.
"Team dialogue, people being open, expressing their opinions and beliefs and getting things off their chests that will hopefully help us out on the floor win more basketball games," forward Mike Dunleavy said of the meeting.
Hoiberg declined to reveal details of what was said other than to call it a "productive" meeting in which he felt players were honest with themselves. The problem is that he keeps coming back to a familiar refrain of the Bulls needing to compete.
That line having to be repeated so often 72 games into a season underscores the depth of the Bulls' troubles. They're not just being outplayed in the physical sense from night to night. They also have mental hurdles, many self-inflicted, to overcome, evidenced by Butler saying Wednesday that he's letting his shooting struggles affect the rest of his play.
Hoiberg hasn't been able to change that tune yet, and he admitted after Saturday's loss that his message isn't getting across.
"I hope so," Hoiberg said when asked if the Bulls are angry. "I hope with the way we've played, guys are taking it personal and will go out there and, again, it starts with competing with this group. Then there's game plan discipline, getting back, communicating, it's a lot of little things that have compounded this three-game stretch."
It's a lot of little things over the course of the season that have added up to grand dysfunction. Now, the Bulls (36-36) could be facing a week of reckoning. Two games out with 10 to play, they face the Hawks (44-30), Pacers (38-34), Rockets (36-37) and Pistons (39-35) over a six-day span.
In winning five of the past six matchups between the teams, Atlanta's proved to be a matchup nightmare lately for Chicago. The next three games then come against teams also fighting for their playoff lives.
The Saturday tilt against the Pistons will be especially crucial for the Bulls. Should Detroit win, it'd pick up a big game in the standings and clinch the playoff tiebreaker. If Chicago wins, it would then be in the driver's seat to grab the tiebreaker, as the season series would be 2-2 and it'd move to division record. The Bulls are currently 7-5 in the division, while the Pistons are 8-6.
"Everybody knows the task at hand this week," Dunleavy said. "It's a do-or-die week for us. We just lost three tough games in a row to teams we expected to beat, but that can turn quickly. We can win three in a row just as easily as we can lose three.
"Time will tell. You either figure it out and head in the right direction or you don't."
Notes: Bulls center Pau Gasol's right knee that has flared up and limited him recently is doing better, but he's now dealing with an ankle sprain as well, Hoiberg said. Gasol's expected to play in Monday's home game against the Hawks … Forward Taj Gibson was hit in the ribs and is dealing with soreness there, but he's expected to play as well Monday, Hoiberg said ... E'Twaun Moore (left hamstring) and Cam Bairstow (back) have been ruled out. It will be Moore's sixth straight missed game.
Cody Westerlund is a sports editor for CBSChicago.com and covers the Bulls. Follow him on Twitter @CodyWesterlund.
