Veteran writer talks Chicago Bulls struggles, expectations for Lonzo Ball's return
CHICAGO (CBS) – The Chicago Bulls are trying to string some wins together after a disappointing start.
The Bulls (10-14) host the Dallas Mavericks Saturday night trying for back-to-back wins for just the second time since Nov. 2. It's been a frustrating season so far leading to lots of questions. CBS 2 Sports Director Marshall Harris tried to get answers to some of them with The Athletic's Darnell Mayberry.
Harris: The Bulls are under .500 about one-third of the way through the season. Should we be tailoring our expectations for this team this season?
Mayberry: I think by now, you have to. They're not off to a good start and it doesn't look like they're going to be turning the corner anytime soon. You would hope that they'd be able to get their offense together. The defense has been OK, but offensively it seems like they're just up and down right now with no real direction.
Harris: And that's the thing, we thought that maybe we'd get some Lonzo Ball action at some point this season, but he's not even at the point where he's started doing anything basketball related. How optimistic should Bulls fans be that Lonzo Ball, after a couple of knee surgeries will play in this season?
Mayberry: I'm not gonna tell Bulls fans what to do. I'm not gonna be optimistic. The team has already said that they don't expect him until at least the new year. Lonzo Ball has said even before that he's not going to rush this back. So I'm not optimistic that we're going to see him anytime soon.
Harris: When you look at what's gone wrong for the Bulls, everyone looks at this team as a Big Three of sorts. You got Zach Lavine, you got Demar DeRozan, you got Nikola Vucevic. The first two players, they're under contract for a second, meanwhile Nikola Vucevic is a free agent at the end of this season. What does the future hold with the way this team has been playing? Could we see (Vucevic) moved at the deadline? Even if he's not moved then, could you see him back next season as a Bull?
Mayberry: It's a great question Marshall. I think he could be moved at the deadline and I think we were surprised he wasn't offered an extension this summer or moved. Those were the two things in play for the Bulls. They didn't extend him and they didn't trade him, so now with this February trade deadline coming up, he is a big piece of this puzzle, whether he stays or they use him as leverage to try to get some more assets in here.
Harris: You look at Zach Lavine, I remember on Media Day he was talking about how their expectations that they should be competing for a championship. Other people in the organization were talking about at least doing better than they did last year which was to get to a playoff matchup … past the first round. Looking now at the ceiling, or maybe the floor of this team, how much does it change? Or what do you see is the floor or the ceiling for this team?
Mayberry: Well the floor is missing the postseason. They are, as we speak, not currently inside the playoff picture. The ceiling I would say is the sixth seed, which is pretty much where they were last year and that's not what (Executive Vice President of Basketball Operations) Arturas Karnisovas said he wanted to see from this team. He wanted to see improvement. He wanted to see them go a step further. A sixth seed won't be it, especially if they make the playoffs and lose again in the first round.