Chicago Bulls: Matchup with Cleveland Cavaliers a must-win

To tank, or not to tank? That is the question. The Chicago Bulls face a miserable Cleveland Cavaliers team on Saturday night.

So, this season hasn’t been the prettiest. The Chicago Bulls are currently 3-9 and in no position to even sniff a conversation about the playoffs. That’s fine.

Everything is fine.

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No, really, it is. The Bulls weren’t supposed to do anything serious this year. It was all part of yet another year in the rebuild. With adding guys like Wendell Carter Jr. and Chandler Hutchison via the draft this year, I’d say the Bulls see themselves a year or two away from playoff contention.

A young core is in place, and those two rookies are already making impacts early on in their first year with as pros.

Along with the rooks, the Bulls are getting a breakout year from Zach LaVine, who has proven he is more than just a high-flyer. LaVine is scoring at a much more efficient rate, putting up an impressive 27.4 points per game on 46.1 percent shooting from the field.

The Bulls may be winners of just three games so far, but they have been one of the more shorthanded teams in all of basketball. No Lauri Markkanen yet. Kris Dunn and Bobby Portis have been out a few games and will continue to be out for the next few weeks. Then, there’s Denzel Valentine, who is now much further away from a return than the team originally anticipated.

If you’ve watched any Bulls games this year, you’d know that they have shown the ability to be competitive even without those four guys. It’s been fun to watch this team fight through the adversity, even though they haven’t won many games.

If I didn’t know any better, I’d almost think the Bulls are amidst another season of tanking.

Already?

Well, maybe. Or, maybe they’re just that close to competing even without some of their key guys. But, on Saturday, when they face a Cleveland Cavaliers team that is currently 1-10, they better decide what kind of team they are, and in a hurry.

This is a team that has completely fallen apart now that LeBron James is in Los Angeles. Already, the Cavaliers have fired Tyronn Lue — a pretty clear sign that we knew who was really coaching that team the past couple of seasons.

the Cavaliers’ leading scorer early on has been Jordan Clarkson, at just 15.2 points per game. Heck, their leader in assists right now is George Hill (if you don’t count the four games Kevin Love has played) and Hill is averaging just 3.0 assists per game.

The Cavaliers are in the bottom third of the league in most major offensive categories, which should make it a whole lot more feasible for the Bulls to show some resemblance of defense on Saturday night.

The Bulls haven’t been pretty on that end — just search Twitter for “Jabari Parker defense” and get your popcorn ready.

Actually, don’t. Laughing while eating popcorn doesn’t sound too safe.

Will the Bulls show up against the lowly Cavs? They better. If not, I think it’ll be pretty acceptable to assume they are ready to tank the year away once more. Hey, it worked for the Philadelphia 76ers. It’s worked in other sports, too. Just look at the Chicago Cubs.

You can’t be terrible forever if you continue to stack the draft picks. But, for the sake of dignity, I’m hoping the Bulls can pull this one out and do it convincingly. If you want to call this a must-win, then so be it. This game is a must-win if the Bulls don’t want to hear the “T” word as early as Saturday night.