While the Chicago Bulls might not have totally jumped into the rebuilding pool before the trade deadline earlier this month, make no mistake about it, they’re well on their way down that path.
Chicago has lost their last five games. While we’ve gotten some solid individual performances over that stretch such as Josh Giddey’s big game last night, the team has struggled quite a bit. Before the Bulls took the Knicks to overtime on Thursday, they had lost their previous four games by 18 points or more.
Despite the Bulls veering down that path of rebuilding, they still do unfortunately find themselves in a bit of a conundrum. What’s best for the Chicago Bulls this season is getting themselves in a position to draft Cooper Flagg, or at least get the best possible odds to do so. The problem is, despite all the losses as of late, they still find themselves stuck in the final spot of the Play-In Tournament.
Now, if they do make the Play-In and lose, they’ll still be in the lottery and have a chance to earn the first overall pick. However, obviously, the further they fall down the NBA standings the better their chances are of grabbing that top pick.
The Philadelphia 76ers seem to be the team on the outside looking in with the best chance of catching the Bulls. Chicago sits 1.5 games ahead of Philly and has played one more game than the Sixers. Last night, though, Sixers star center Joel Embiid gave a not-so-great update on his ailing knee after a home loss to the Celtics. And it isn’t the best news for the Bulls!
“The way I was playing a year ago is not the way I’m playing right now,” Embiid told ESPN after a 124-104 loss to Boston. “It sucks. … I probably need to fix the problem, and then I’ll be back at that level. But it’s hard to have trust when you’re not yourself.”
Mandatory Credit: Kyle Ross-Imagn ImagesJoel Embiid’s Ailing Knee Is Bad News For The Bulls
I’m not going to get into my thoughts on Embiid at this point. But the fact is he’s played in only 18 of Philly’s 55 games this year, and his injury issues have been the main reason why the Sixers have been a massive flop this season. If Embiid is openly admitting he’s not himself and that he probably needs to have the issue fixed, at what point could the Sixers consider chalking this season up as lost, shutting Embiid (and potentially Paul George) down for the year, and opting to chase a better draft pick, as well?
I don’t necessarily think that will happen, at least not yet, but they’ll remain a bigger threat to Chicago’s draft status for as long as they struggle. With Victor Wembanyama’s season-ending injury being announced yesterday, and Embiid admitting he won’t be right this season shortly after, it hasn’t been the greatest 24 hours for fans of the Bulls hoping for a better draft pick
There is good news, however. Looking at the remaining strength of schedule, Chicago sits right around the middle of the league with the 17th-most difficult schedule left, per Tankathon. The Sixers have the third-easiest remaining schedule. The two teams meet two more times this season, as well. Once this Monday and again in the season finale on Sunday, April 13 with both games taking place in Philadelphia. The Sixers are also 2-0 against the Bulls this year.
Long story short, Joel Embiid essentially confirming he won’t be right again this year isn’t the end of the world for Chicago, but it’s yet another unknown factor that affects their draft lottery chances. It’s another reason why the front office stopping at trading only Zach LaVine was a risky venture that can come back to bite them.
Can the Sixers still catch the Bulls for that final Play-In spot? Of course, but if that isn’t the route they choose, the Bulls should have done everything possible to maximize their chances of getting the top pick. Instead, as usual, they took a half-measured approach and left more up to chance than they needed to.
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