Bulls lose to undermanned Nets after staying the course at the deadline

NEW YORK – On the same day that executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas put his faith in keeping this Bulls team together at the trade deadline, they didn’t just bite the hand that fed them, they chewed off a few digits.

Facing a Brooklyn team that was dismantled of star power the last 48 hours, all the underachieving Bulls did was get shot out of the gym from outside, losing 116-105.

To make matters worse, it came just hours after Karnisovas insisted that he felt the inconsistent three-point shooting wouldn’t be a major issue through the rest of the season.

“Yes, we’d like to bring the three-point rate up more,” Karnisovas said. “But I think we’re still making at a very good rate, the threes.”

Not against the Nets. While Brooklyn (33-22) went 17-for-44 (38.6%) from three-point range, the Bulls didn’t hit their first three until Zach LaVine nailed one with 5:40 left in the third. They finished 5-for-26 (19.2%).

That won’t get it done, and neither will coming out to start the game playing passive basketball on both ends of the floor.

That’s what disappointed coach Billy Donovan the most. He warns his players about it, and it’s still happening.

“Every single day that goes by we have less opportunity to take on this challenge,” veteran DeMar DeRozan said. “The room for error is getting slimmer and slimmer. It’s on us to realize it.”

As far as how the loss looked from the outside, especially with the front office putting its trust in this core group to get it done, DeRozan realized it’s like a marriage, but one that may need some counseling.

“When you’re in a relationship … through sickness and health, you stick together,” DeRozan said. “That’s how I look at it when I’m with a group of guys. Through sickness and health, til death do us part.”

Guard Zach LaVine, who finished with a game-high 38, took it a step further.

“It’s us vs everybody,” LaVine said.

Talking the big man

Nikola Vucevic told the Sun-Times this week that he wants to stay in Chicago, but that he also knows his value if he makes it to the free agent market this summer.

Karnisovas sounded confident in at least attempting to re-sign Vucevic.

“He’s having an unbelievable year,” Karnisovas said. “And you know we want him to be here.”

Where it could get interesting is at what price?

The market on centers was somewhat set by Indiana two weeks ago when they extended Myles Turner for two-years at just under $60 million.

Vucevic was asked about the Turner deal and how it related to him, and said, “It’s pretty well known around the league what I can do, what I bring to the table. That’s great for Myles, but I don’t try and compare myself to other guys where, ‘Hey, this is what he got, this is what I should get.’ I don’t think like that. I’m more individual in the way I think about it.”

Ball game

Karnisovas didn’t want to get into the details about Lonzo Ball and his road to recovery from left knee surgery, but did say, “I think he’s making small improvements, but we’re still going to have more information for you probably post All-Star Weekend, and we’re going to inform you about that.”

All indications are that Ball will officially shut the point guard down for the season at that point, hoping he can be ready for next fall camp.

Ball last played in an NBA game on Jan. 14, 2022. By the time the 2023-24 regular season starts, it will be 21 months between games for Ball.

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