Bulls: Proof the fans have been sold a bill of goods

After their recent loss to the Los Angeles Lakers, we now have proof the Chicago Bulls have sold their fans on a pipedream.

A disaster wrapped up in a dumpster fire, all rolled into a tragedy is perhaps the only way to describe the current state of the Chicago Bulls. Each night they manage to find a way to reach a new low, finding creative ways to deliver gut punches to its fan base.

Whether it’s starting 2-6, or the fact that they’ve lost to three teams (Cleveland Cavaliers, New York Knicks, and Memphis Grizzlies) who are a combined 4-16, they have been a disaster. Put another way, only one of those teams — the Cavs — have beaten a team other than the Bulls so far this year. Yuck.

A season that started out with such hope and optimism, appears to already be going off the rails. And it started with optimism because this year was supposed to be different. While there weren’t championship expectations, it was certainly reasonable to expect a team to show dramatic improvement and perhaps find themselves as a sneaky playoff contender later in the season.

The team had a full offseason with all of its players healthy, so fans expected to see player development, a more fluid offensive scheme, better execution, and ultimately better results. The excuses were gone.

The problem is someone apparently forgot to tell the coaching staff that this was supposed to be the year that they began emerging from the “rebuild.” But after another demoralizing loss to the Lakers, Boylen’s comments could not have more clearly indicated that this team is still smack-dab in the middle of a rebuild.

Rather than reinsert his starters during the Lakers run to try to salvage a much-needed win — if for no other reason than to help their own psyche — Boylen chose to roll with his reserves. Why you ask? It was not because they were playing better, or gave the team the best chance to win. It was because Boylen wanted to “develop this bench.”

Instead of giving his team the best chance to win, Boylen instead elected to play reserves because he “has 15 guys to develop” and he wanted to prepare them for future similar situations. Again, if it hasn’t hit you over the head, Boylen’s priority is developing role players who may not be with the team next season than winning a basketball game.

Someone may want to tell Jim that this isn’t high school basketball. This is the NBA. The best players play in the most critical times. Crunch time is not an experimental lab where you see how the fourth player off the bench responds. Guess what — if he could, he’d be a starter and not the fourth guy off the bench.

So my advice to Bulls fans is to speak with your wallet. Until ownership feels the pain, it will not be motivated to make a change. And if they don’t, the Bulls will be in basketball purgatory in perpetuity.