NBA warns Chicago Bulls about resting Robin Lopez, Justin Holiday
According to Yahoo! Sports’ Shams Charania, the NBA has come down on the Chicago Bulls for resting healthy starters. Is the flak deserved?
Despite the claim that “the dialogue between league officials and the Bulls was cooperative and productive” from Yahoo! Sports‘ Shams Charania, the bottom line is GarPax got a slap on the wrist for resting Robin Lopez and Justin Holiday since the All-Star break. The question is, is the flak deserved?
Last week, I claimed that the Chicago Bulls are tearing down the concept of tanking culture, and that their process, albeit littered with losses, will not be as long or nearly as ugly as some of the franchises around the league currently chasing the tank dream.
Truth be told, I’ll be the first to admit when I’m wrong. My wife has made sure of that. Despite the stern warning, I stand behind my claim: This isn’t a true tank job.
The Bulls are not playing like a team that is purposely rolling over. The truth is that despite Justin Holiday’s increased steal output to complement his proven scoring, guys like David Nwaba and Denzel Valentine have more upside and are much younger. There is a lot more reason to play them not just for the future, but for now.
As for Robin Lopez, he isn’t his brother, he isn’t Dwight Howard, he isn’t even John Henson. Not playing Lopez doesn’t require an explanation. Whoever green lit that warning, and we can assume it landed on Adam Silver’s desk at some point, was wrong.
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Yes, the Bulls have been getting absolutely destroyed by teams night in and night out, including the Boston Celtics, Toronto Raptors, Philadelphia 76ers, Minnesota Timberwolves and the Charlotte Hornets. But those teams all have something in common that the Bulls don’t – they are playoff-bound! This has been a tough stretch of opponents amidst the toughest stretch of the season that is the post All-Star break dog days.
Tthe Bulls have lost 15 of their last 18 games. It’s a lot of losing, we get it. However, the point is that this losing team isn’t making as much of a blatant bid for a lottery pick than the NBA has made it seem. The Bulls’ recent moves make them look more like the Celtics in their brief rebuild in the post-Big 3 era than a team gunning for losses.
By the way, when the Celtics bottomed out in 2013-14, a 23-year-old Avery Bradley averaged 30.9 minutes per game, and a 21-year-old Jared Sullinger averaged 27.6 minutes per game. Not every player is going to pan out, but just the same, not every losing team has to be attempting a tank. In order to find diamonds in the rough, a team has to let young players run.
What the Bulls are doing here is simple: play the hungriest players with the most upside. That’s not a traditional tank mentality. GarPax has put their team in a position to rest healthy veterans without putting players with no future in the NBA on the floor.
Next: 2018 NBA Draft - Early March Mock Draft
Did the NBA take it too far with this warning? You be the judge. Since the All-Star break, the average margin between the Bulls and their opponent’s score has been 11.5 points. They have played some tough opponents, and their young guys are learning from these experiences. Most importantly though, unlike most tanking teams, this Bulls team will be winning again soon.