Listless Bulls lacking Leadership

After witnessing yet another dismal start to a promising year, It is becoming painfully clear that the Bulls as currently constructed will not be a champion this year, or any time soon. It’s time to face reality folks. With this roster, we have a Good team, and I stress the word good. Good teams play hard every night, win more than they lose, and consistently make the playoffs to challenge the Great teams in their conference. This has been our script for the past three seasons, and it’s one that hasn’t gone through any significant rewrites.

So, What’s the problem with this team? We can drudge out the old faithful excuse that we lack a low-post presence, which don’t get me wrong is a viable argument, but it’s been played out to death and other teams in this league have survived without one. (Remember the 6-time champion Bulls squads did not have a low-post threat, but they did have this decent player by the name of Michael Jordan.) Then there’s the fact that we are young. This excuse is no longer relevant since all of our core guys have been in the league 4 years or more by now. I think the pampers came off a long time ago. So what is it then? Is it the constant Kobe rumors? The lack of extensions for Deng and Gordon? Our horrible shooting slump? Ben Wallace’s headband? What?

Then the other day it hit me. Leadership, or lack thereof. The go-to guy, the player that says give me the ball when the game is on the line. We do not have a single all-star caliber player on our team. Did you know we were the only team to make the playoffs in the East last year without a single all-star on the roster? Look, I understand that these players have a lot of up-side and not one of them, other than Hinrich, is over 25, but can we point to any single player in that core and say, “That’s our guy.” The answer is no. We have a couple good players who seem like they could be “that” guy, but which one is it. Is it Gordon, is it Deng, or, I can already hear Fred groaning, is it Hinrich? We the fans, as well as the players, simply don’t know.

Ben Gordon can put of some good numbers, but rarely does for a full four quarters, and has a weakness that’s often impossible to overcome, his height. Graciously listed at 6’ 3”, he is maybe 6’ 1” in shoes. Players that short that play the 2 like Gordon, rarely become stars. They become David Wesleys. Stars that short are incredibly quick, and possess great ball-handling skills, two things that Gordon seems to be lacking. He would be great as a sixth man, which he’s already proven, or the best second option ever to play the game. There’s no shame in it. Everyone knows Duncan is the man in San Antonio, yet Manu comes off the bench and lights up the box score. Gordon’s streakiness makes it hard to consider him a first option at this point, and unless his ball handling skills, and decision-making improve to the point where we can start him at the 1, he’s a tough sell as a team leader.

Kirk Hinrich has been a captain for several years now, and plays the most important position on any basketball team, the point. Unfortunately for him he is a two guard playing out of position almost every night and often times is invisible when the team needs him the most. He does have some good point skills. He’s a good ball handler and passer, and has a high basketball IQ. But he even admitted that he has trouble knowing when to control the game or divert to his teammates. His decision making skills leave much to be desired.

That brings us to the last of the core, Luol Deng. He has the right skill set, size, and hard work to eventually achieve all-star status, but he seems to lack the intensity that makes good players great. He’s a team captain now but, like co-Captain Hinrich, seems rather uncomfortable in that role. The fact that it took Adrian Griffin, a guy who hasn’t played a single game this season to call a players-only team meeting, says a lot about the young captain’s inability to take charge. You can argue that he’s a humble guy, and at 22, may grow into that role given time. But LeBron is 22 as well, and he’s calling out older teammates while on the court for taking ill-advised shots. He knows this is my team, I’m the captain, and it’s my duty to let my teammates know when assignments are missed, and bad plays are made. That’s what a captain does. He leads his team. You can’t worry about hurting someone’s feelings out there. Deng’s teammates voted him a captain for a reason. Right now, I can’t be certain what that reason is. It seems like to this team it’s just a title for someone who has put their time in, which is completely missing the point.

Gordon recently said that he feels he’s the best player on the team, and that he thinks Deng feels he’s the best player on the team. There’s a good case for either one of them being considered the best but for this team to even be considered among the East elite, one of them needs to step forth and say “This is my team and I’m out to win the whole thing, now who’s coming with me?”