Bulls still have an A in chemistry class, but doesn’t help in Toronto

It’s not time to be reactionary.

As tempting as the 127-120 overtime loss to Toronto on Thursday was for Arturas Karnisovas to start hitting redial on his cell phone with the trade deadline less than a week away, perspective needed to rule the day.

No matter how the numbers looked.

Toronto grabbing 22 offensive rebounds, scoring 22 points off 17 Bulls turnovers, and putting up 60 points in the paint.

All of it screamed the obvious yet again: The Bulls need to get bigger and more physical in the frontcourt.

“We got outrebounded and they out-physical-ed us throughout the whole game,” newly-named All-Star Zach LaVine said after. “It shouldn’t have been that close of a game to start.”

However, that doesn’t mean Karnisovas is going to take that leap.

That was the message from the executive vice president of basketball operations in Karnisovas last month, and according to coach Billy Donovan, that hasn’t changed. Of course the Bulls (32-19) would like to add talent at the deadline, but not at the expense of chemistry.

“I would say that I would lean toward the chemistry piece,” Donovan said, when asked about talent versus chemistry.

What the Bulls really wanted to weigh between now and deadline time was the idea that LaVine, Lonzo Ball, DeMar DeRozan and Nikola Vucevic had only 17 games together.

When the “Big Four” have played together, the results have been very good.

That can’t be overlooked, even with the obvious lack of size at the starting power forward spot.

“We like our group a lot, we like the chemistry a lot, we want to make sure that continues,” Donovan said. “Chemistry in the locker room is critical, it’s important. Certainly Arturas is always going to look for ways to improve the group, but you don’t want to say, ‘OK, we’ve improved our talent, but we’re not as cohesive and the chemistry is not as good.’ So all those decisions are definitely factored in and they’re certainly a priority.”

The good news for Donovan and his locker room?

As the anxiety of the deadline starts to grow – like it does in every locker room – the Bulls are well built in handling it. Veterans like DeRozan, Vucevic, Ball, and LaVine have all been traded, and Karnisovas has an open-door policy where he tries to be as honest as he can be with his players.

“This time of year there’s always going to be, especially for younger players that haven’t been through this business side of it, but I think the front office, Arturas and [general manager] Marc [Eversley], have done a really, really good job where if players have questions then they have the freedom to go up there and speak to them about different things,” Donovan said.

A policy that could be tested next week.

The only test on Thursday, however, was the Raptors (27-23).

As LaVine pointed out, the Bulls had very little business even being in the game but they were. DeRozan tied the game in regulation with 47.8 seconds left, and Vucevic, who finished with 30 points and 18 rebounds, gave his team the lead with 8.6 seconds left. Scottie Barnes, however, played hero for the home team, getting the tip-in to send it to overtime.

An overtime that the Bulls seemed to finally hit the wall in.

With the game tied and 1:44 left, Barnes hit the tough 4-footer, followed by a huge Gary Trent Jr. three with 16.5 seconds left on a blown defensive switch by LaVine and Vucevic.

LaVine had been dealing with back spasms the last two games, but didn’t offer that up as an excuse in the slightest.

“They ran a stack action, and we didn’t defend it right,” LaVine said of Trent’s dagger. “It’s just bad communication at the wrong point of the game.”

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