Injuries, Markkanen’s Tired Body Reflective of Toll Bulls’ Season Has Taken
I’m writing this post at Midway Airport while waiting for my flight to Newark. The girlfriend and I are headed to New York for a few days, and we’ve made Monday’s Bulls game against the Knicks at Madison Square Garden part of our itinerary. Even before this past week, many probably would wonder why we’d want to watch a game between two teams battling for position in the Tankathon standings. Now, I’m sitting here wondering how much of our money’s worth we’re going to get.
Lauri Markkanen will miss the rest of the season after showing symptoms of an accelerated heart rate. Before that, he was said to be suffering from extreme exhaustion. Zach LaVine, Otto Porter Jr. and Kris Dunn all are uncertain for the final six games because of their various injuries. All this is on top of Wendell Carter Jr. and Chandler Hutchison already being shut down.
That leaves the Bulls to finish out the schedule with Robin Lopez and…a bunch of guys even the most diehard NBA fans have no business knowing about. Not to knock Ryan Arcidiacono or Wayne Selden with the fine seasons they’ve had, but let’s get real here. I’m going to the Mecca of basketball, and I get to watch the Bulls trot out the likes of Antonio Blakeney, Cristiano Felicio, Shaquille Harrison, Timothe Luwawu-Cabarrot and a handful of Windy City Bulls? When the most exciting thing to happen of late is recalling Walter Lemon Jr., you’re left feeling a whole bunch of meh.
I probably shouldn’t be too harsh on a bunch of no-name players who are competing for their futures as basketball players. After all, their only crime is having no real NBA identity and being part of a lousy team. But even if you’re rooting for the Bulls to lose out, you have to be shaking your head over the remaining roster. That the Bulls have had to scrape to the very bottom of the barrel to fill out their roster as well as the holes in their rotation speaks volumes about where they are.
The other thing is this tough season has taken a toll on the players who have been penciled in as part of the Bulls’ future. From the moment training camp opened, this season was defined by injuries, and as the present situation indicates, no key player has been immune from them. It’s a miracle when even average teams that go through a season like this sneak into the playoffs as a low seed. When this happens to a rebuilding team, all bets are off.
Like the regular players’ bodies, fans are exhausted from what has been another trying year. Whatever faction of Bulls Nation you help make up, you’ve had to deal with everything. From all the injuries to a coaching change to all the outside pressure to lose so they have the best possible shot at drafting Zion Williamson, it’s a lot to handle. More than a few people on the inside surely are as eager to get this season over with as anyone.
Wherever the Bulls pick in the draft, it stands to be another long summer. If they’re not in a position to draft Williamson, Ja Morant or even R.J. Barrett, they’ll hear the criticism about winning games they shouldn’t have just like they did last year. Then, people will question whether the player they end up with is the right one for the future. Even if the ping pong balls fall their way, there’s the pressure of considering what free agents they can get to supplement their new young star, and that can’t be easy when you’ve already taken yourself out the running to take on anymore big contracts.
Best of luck to those of you who intend to watch these final games. It’s going to take a lot of patience on your part, and you have to remind yourself that the Bulls who are left merely are fulfilling the rest of the schedule. I’ll get to cross visiting the World’s Most Famous Arena off my bucket list and do it while watching my team. Whatever your motivation, know that before long, we won’t have to tire ourselves out with these exhausted 2018–19 Bulls anymore.
