The Chicago Bulls couldn’t be more stuck in the NBA mud.
Four games behind the Atlanta Hawks and 2.5 games ahead of the Philadelphia 76ers and Brooklyn Nets, the Bulls are once again squarely in 10th place and currently own the final spot in the Eastern Conference Play-In Tournament.
That also means they’re soon to be locked into the eight spot in the NBA Draft Lottery standings.
In other words, they have nothing to gain and nothing to lose.
The Bulls are Bullsing, though, handing significant minutes to Zach Collins, Tre Jones and Kevin Huerter, all of whom were acquired in the Zach LaVine trade and have been with the team for barely a month.
In Chicago’s loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers on March 4, Collins started at center for the injured Nikola Vucevic and played 28 minutes. With Lonzo Ball, Ayo Dosunmu and Josh Giddey also out, Jones started at point guard and played 34 minutes. Collins and Jones were a team-leading minus-22 and minus-26, respectively.
Meanwhile, the Bulls’ most overlooked and underrated player of 2024-25 came off the bench, scored 13 points, and grabbed 11 rebounds in just 18 minutes. He was 4-of-7 from the field, 2-of-4 from three and added a block for good measure.
Yet head coach Billy Donovan won’t give him a look in the starting lineup, and at this point in the year, it’s becoming completely absurd.
Jalen Smith deserves to be the Bulls’ starting center
In fairness, Collins has been a revelation since arriving in Chicago via the San Antonio Spurs. The seven-year veteran has spent most of his career as a reserve with averages of 8.0 points and 4.8 rebounds.
Since joining the Bulls, though, the 27-year-old has started five of his eight games and is averaging 13.3 points, 8.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists on 55.6 percent shooting. He’s filling in for the injured Vucevic, who was having a career year in shooting efficiency before beginning to tail off shortly before the trade deadline.
That leaves Smith, who’s played 46 more games under Donovan than Collins has, as the team’s third-string center. And that makes absolutely no sense.
The 24-year-old has been Chicago’s most underappreciated player this season. Per 36 minutes, he’s the team’s fourth leading scorer behind Vucevic, Coby White and the now-departed LaVine; its top rebounder with 13.2 per game; and its second-best shot blocker with 1.7 swats per game.
Yet he only plays 15.1 minutes per night, which ranks 12th on the team.
As if the stats weren’t enough, the predicament the Bulls find themselves in as a franchise makes Smith’s auxiliary role even more ridiculous. Collins, who will be on an $18 million expiring contract in 2025-26, may not even be in Chicago next season. Vucevic should already be gone, but the front office decided not to trade him when it dealt LaVine at the deadline.
There’s no reason either center, even when healthy, should be getting more minutes than a player like Smith who’s still young, growing and has already proven to be one of the team’s best big men. Now is the time for player development, not for trying to win games by starting an old(er) duo who have so obviously maxed out their potential.
And yet it would be a surprise to see Smith in the starting lineup at any point, barring injury, over the final five weeks of the regular season.
