Chicago Bulls: Is Tanking on Fred Hoiberg’s Mind?

Several weeks ago, the Chicago Bulls were warned by the NBA about any blatant tanking. It was serious, but maybe not serious enough

The warning was in regards to making Robin Lopez and Justin Holiday nightly inactives. While John Paxson could argue that he wants to get a better look at the younger guys, it’s no secret; the team is significantly worse without those two. Lauri Markkanen, Kris Dunn, and Zach LaVine all being sat of late is only pouring gasoline on the fire.

Prior to tonight’s bout with the Denver Nuggets, Chicago Bulls head coach Fred Hoiberg gave the media a nice little line to think about:

Personally, I believe that Fred genuinely wants to win games. He needs to make sure he has job security (I doubt he gets canned this spring because it’s still early in the rebuild). Also, no one likes to lose; I imagine Fred hates it but he can only do so much.

However, Fred himself might be phoning in the season. He may have not specifically used the term “tank” but he’s no dummy; he and everybody else understands the endgame.

Would this statement mean anything about future lineups?

Hoiberg has been starting Cam Payne, Denzel Valentine, and Noah Vonleh of late in the wake of “injuries” to some of the regular starters. Obviously, Markkanen’s back spasms could be very painful, but he’s seen a ton of work for nearly the last year. From Summer League to EuroBasket, and lots of starting minutes this season, shutting him down is a safe play. Dunn recently suffered a setback with his foot; there’s no reason to rush back a foot injury of any kind.

LaVine is a bit of a loaded question. The Bull’s brass planned months ago to rest him on back-to-back sets. He has missed the last three games (including tonight’s game with Denver) and none of which were back-to-back. So at this point, is there really any reason to give him minutes? If Hoiberg isn’t planning to bring Markkanen or Dunn back before the season’s end, why should LaVine be active?

As far as what we can expect sans Chicago’s “Big Three”, it’ll stay rather ugly. Outside of Payne, Valentine, and Vonleh, Bobby Portis will continue to get all of the minutes he can handle. Jerian Grant (yes, he still exists) will get a chance to prove his worth as a backup. The rest of the crew (Paul Zipser, Christiano Felicio, David Nwaba, etc.) will also be auditioning for a spot on next year’s squad.

Next: Chicago Bears: Did Eddie Jackson’s Instagram hint at potential draft target?

Expectations for Fred and his team?

We all understand the value in losing as many of the remaining 11 games as possible. There is an extremely tight race at the top of the “Tankathon” standings. So jockeying for draft position with the teams in front should get very interesting. Based off of the incoming draft class, I believe that the 5th to 7th slots should be considered the Bulls’ ‘Sweet Spot’. They should still be able to nab a top talent and maybe fill a hole at wing or center.

Hoiberg likely won’t change much from the group on the floor tonight moving forward. So expect the loses to continue and expect a ton of jacked up triples and horrendous defense.

#Hoiball