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 Another day....another problem:
Falling to 14-22 and hardly competitive, several Bulls players on the bench late seemed relatively indifferent to the result. It was perhaps a worse message than the events of the evening, which were discouraging as well.
Apparently it led to a dispute in the locker room as rookie Joakim Noah complained about the attitude on the bench and argued with veteran Ben Wallace. One witness said Luol Deng had to step between them to ease the tension.
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 Oh boy, here we go. This is the last thing you want to happen to a team you are a fan of.....now the players are actually fighting amongst themselves. I guess it's a good thing they got that energy out since they didn't use it during the game.....Ugh. Anyways, the halftime skirmish was caused because Noah was on the floor in the busting his tail on his way to 12 points and 11 rebounds as the Bulls were blown out again and next thing you know....he looks over to the bench and sees Ben Wallace (4 points, 3 rebounds) laughing. Yep, I'd feel the same way if I were Noah.
There was a time (like earlier this week) when the Knicks were the laughingstock of the NBA, but now it's the Bulls. I'm never going to do justice to the lack of effort that was given last night, so I'll let Interim Coach Jim Boylan do it:
"The lack of effort in the third quarter was unacceptable," Boylan said
about a 32-10 Magic run. "Probably the worst third quarter since I've
been with the Chicago Bulls. Lack of effort all the way across the
board from just about everybody, lack of concentration and focus.
"We're letting teams have their way with us. The defense is soft. The
offense is anemic at times. We just seem to be casual with the ball. We
have to change the way we're playing. I don't have any magic dust to
sprinkle over anyone. I have seen these guys compete at a high level.
For some reason we are not doing that.
"This is a habit now we have to break and we will."
Things didn't used to be this way (last season). Boylan is in over his head and he has a group of players who are being 'lead' by a guy who is only out for himself (Wallace). That's a recipe for disaster. This has gone beyond playing performance and is now at the point where Bulls fans are actually ashamed of their team. This isn't the team that I grew to re-love the last 4 or 5 seasons...Hell, this isn't even the team I grew to hate when Tim Floyd was around. This is a group of talented, and in some cases overpaid, players who can't get out of their own way to succeed. It's a damn shame.
These guys are playing like clowns right now and it's not going to stop until something is done to shake up this roster. Ben Wallace has to go. Ben Gordon has to go. Chris Duhon has to go. I don't care who/what you get in return, these guys have to go. Tell Hinrich that it's his job to make sure Noah shows up to practice on time and tell Deng to take some leadership lessons from Joe Smith and you are already two steps ahead of where you are right now. Get rid of Boylan, bring in Rick Carlisle and run a slow down, grind it out offense with a tenacious defense. I hate the way Carlisle runs an offense, but he'll get the most out of the talent and he'll make the playoffs.
Something has to be done. This team has taken five steps back this season and it doesn't look to stop anytime soon. The Bulls are the punch line to every NBA joke right now...and I'm not sure they even know how to turn it around.
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