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NEW ORLEANS \u2014 The film isn\u2019t lying to coach Billy Donovan.<\/p>\n
Opponents have seized on the Bulls\u2019 lack of physicality, especially on defense. And it\u2019s not only the elite teams. We\u2019re talking about conference cellar dwellers such as the Wizards and Pelicans.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s blood in the water, and the sharks are circling.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think teams are putting that on front street and making us confront it, which I think is the best thing for our group, quite honestly,\u201d Donovan said after an embarrassing 13-point loss to the Pelicans on Monday.<\/p>\n
So what\u2019s the Bulls\u2019 counterpunch at this point?<\/p>\n
It\u2019s not in executive vice president Arturas Karnisovas\u2019 nature to make an aggressive swing for a player after 17 games, so it has to come from within. It simply can\u2019t fall on Isaac Okoro every game.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor our team, maybe outside Isaac Okoro, we don\u2019t have one guy right now where you can say, \u2018This guy is a defensive stopper, this is what this guy hangs his hat on.\u2019 We don\u2019t have that,\u201d Donovan said. \u201cSo we have to do it collectively. It\u2019s not one guy\u2019s fault; it\u2019s all of us. It\u2019s the coaches, the players, we all have to do it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just don\u2019t have the type of guys that you\u2019re going to put on a guy, and he\u2019s going to shut them down.\u201d<\/p>\n
Not yet, but that\u2019s where guard Ayo Dosunmu comes in. At least he\u2019s putting his hand up as a volunteer.<\/p>\n
\u201cOf course, it starts with me, also, just being one of the guys that is always on the ball,\u201d Dosunmu said. \u201cWe understand what we\u2019ve got to do, but now it\u2019s about buckling down. We\u2019ve shown it plenty of times this season, but now it\u2019s about doing it on a consistent basis.\u201d<\/p>\n
If Dosunmu can handle the opposing team\u2019s best backcourt player and Okoro can try putting handcuffs on the best wing\/frontcourt player, there\u2019s hope, but it\u2019s still a big ask if the overall physicality doesn\u2019t improve.<\/p>\n
No one should be surprised, however. Karnisovas watched this far too often last season and still brought back almost the same roster.<\/p>\n
In swapping Lonzo Ball for Okoro, the Bulls traded one good defender for another. Noa Essengue was drafted 12th overall, but at 18 is built more like a contortionist than a forward who\u2019s going to bring the wood.<\/p>\n
Everything else has remained about the same.<\/p>\n
There\u2019s a reason the Bulls are 23rd in defensive-efficiency rating. The front office wasn\u2019t proactive in addressing the issue, so it will fall on Donovan and his players.<\/p>\n
\u201cI just think that physically sometimes we get pushed out of the way, we get driven through,\u201d Donovan said. \u201cThere are times I look at it and say, \u2018OK, this matchup overwhelmed us physically.\u2019 I\u2019m OK with that if I see guys really putting their body between their man and the basket, really hitting and blocking out. I gotta see that, and I\u2019m not seeing that.<\/p>\n
\u201cSize does, at times, cause us issues, I\u2019m just being honest, but you\u2019ve also got to find the guys that are willing to do it. I think that\u2019s what Arturas was probably looking at with this group where, \u2018OK, we\u2019ve established an identity. We\u2019re playing fast, but when our fast break got taken away, we really didn\u2019t have a lot of other ways to beat you.\u2019 We\u2019ve got to lean into the physicality part. That\u2019s the step we\u2019re trying to take and see who can take it with us.\u201d<\/p>\n
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The lack of physicality the last week is alarming for coach Billy Donovan and the Bulls, and now the question is simple: Who steps up?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":122880,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-122876","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-nba"],"yoast_head":"\n