The Bulls have MAJOR problems...

The Bulls just lost by 30 to the New York Knicks last night. Their rookie went 2-for-12, and the coach said it out loud. Tiago Splitter said, quote, We're not going to play that way. We're not going to just ice someone, shoot, and go one-on-one. This team is 1-7. They have the worst three-point percentage in the entire NBA, and their starting big man just went down with injury. So what is actually wrong with Chicago? Let's start with how deep the hole is. The Bulls have lost six straight. Their only win all season was October 23rd in Milwaukee. They are 14th in a 15-team East, six and a half games back. They're losing by an average of 18 points a game. That is not close. That's a different league. Look at how they lose. Down 43 in Toronto, down 35 in Boston, down 19 in Philadelphia, now down 30 in New York. Only two of their eight games were close. This team doesn't just lose, they get ran out of every building, including their own. One Bulls account went as far as saying they're the worst team in the NBA at 1-7, but to be fair to them, they are tied with Milwaukee, the Clippers, Utah, and Sacramento, but tied for last is bad enough. And here's the cruel part. The league rebuilt its draft lottery this year to punish tanking. The worst three records now get two balls, fewer than the teams that finished fourth to 10th. It's called the 3-2-1 lottery. The owners approved it 29-1 in May. Here's how it works. The worst three records can't fall below the 12th pick, but they get two balls, fewer than the teams that finished fourth through 10th. The league also says Adam Silver can fine a team up to 10 million for tanking. So nobody in Chicago can say losing is the plan, and nobody wants it to be. Quick question before I move forward. Let me know down below in the comments if you think this loss was on Splitter or the players. Let me know in the comments. So losing doesn't even buy us a better pick at this point. Chicago is stuck, and the reason starts with one shot. The Bulls make 11.63s a game on 42.8 attempts. That's 27.2%. That ranks 30th out of 30 teams in the NBA. The next lowest shooting team is 29.4%. Think about what that means. For every 100 threes that this team takes, they make 27 of them. The lowest besides that is 29 threes out of 100. Against the Knicks, it got ugly. They went 10 for 44 from three. And seven of those 44 belonged to Caleb Wilson, and he made one. It's not just the threes. Above the break, they shoot 27.4%, also 30th in the league. Overall, their true shooting percentage ranks 29th in the league. Last year, it ranked 16th, 52.8% now, 58% then. So when Splitter says stop going one-on-one, he's describing a team with nothing else to do. When the shot won't fall, the possession dies alone. Here's what makes this story strange. Two nights before the Knicks game, Caleb Wilson was the best player on the floor. In Philadelphia, November 2nd, he scored 24 points with 7 rebounds and 4 steals and made 4 of 9 threes. Then came New York. The Bulls trailed 84-52 at halftime. Wilson was 2 for 9 and had 5 points. He took 3 more shots in the second half, missed them all, and he was done for the night. Go back a few days, and on October 31st, Caleb Wilson said this. Quote, I have never been a loser in my whole life, so I'm going to try my best to make sure that doesn't happen. I'm never going to accept being a loser. Keep that quote in your head because five days later his coach used almost that same idea against him. This didn't start in New York. Go back to October 28th, the Knicks game at home. With a minute 40 left and the Bulls down, Splitter yelled at Wilson to double Brunson and Wilson was late. Chicago lost that one, 133-127, a six-point game, their closest loss since October 24th. So when you hear the coach now, it isn't just a one-night rant. It's a rookie who keeps getting He's getting corrected in public. And the rookie is the team's best scorer. Wilson averaged 21.2 points a game through November 2nd, second among rookies. He was playing 34.1 minutes a game, also second among rookies. That's what makes his 21 minutes against the Knicks so loud, because Splitter didn't just bench a bad night, he benched his top scorer. Which has us to the quote that has Chicago talking. Splitter on Wilson, word for word. Quote, he wasn't doing the right things on offense, defense, body language. He's got to be better, got to be more resilient. Now read the next part slowly. Quote, Caleb probably never been in this situation in his life. He's always been on the winning side, winning games. And then the line that decides everything. Quote, play hard even when you're down 20, 30, or 40. Doesn't matter, so it's a learning experience for sure. Notice what he said. He didn't say that the kid can't play. He said the kid has never lost, and now he's losing by 30. The night backs the coach up. Wilson played 21 minutes and 45 seconds, his fewest all season, and Splitter pulled him midway through the third quarter. That's a big drop for a guy averaging 19.5 points a game this season. On the surface, his numbers look fine. Here's the twist. With Josh Giddey on the floor, Wilson shoots 40.4% from three, without him 19.4%. Think about the timing too. He said all this in the press room minutes after losing by 30 with the cameras on. A coach can say those things to his rookie one-on-one in the locker room, but he chose to say it to the media as well. So is this a rookie who can't handle it? Or is it just a team that can't hand him any help? The coach told you which one he thinks. Now let's zoom out because Wilson isn't the only one struggling. The Bulls starting group of Bouzeleas, Giddey, Powell, Smith, and Wilson has played 81 minutes together with a net rating of minus 9. The rebound rate is 26th in the league, down from 15th last season, 47.4% now, 49.6% last year. So they don't shoot it, they don't rebound, and they give up 18 more points than they score. Jalen Smith is a part of it too. In his last five games, he's had 9 points a game, down from 14.3 before that. That's the roster the coach is asking to stop playing one-on-one. And the weird part is the league is already circling. Jake Fisher reports the Bulls are listening to offers for Norman Powell before the trade deadline. And the Warriors have reportedly asked about Jalen Smith as a short-term frontcourt option. Both of those are reports, not trades, but look at what they say. The league sees a team that can shoot and might sell its shooter and big. That's a rebuild nobody planned. And with the new system, selling doesn't even guarantee you a top pick. And the one thing that was working just got hurt. Jalen Smith left the Knicks game after just 7 minutes with 3 points and 2 rebounds. Casey Johnson reports Smith fell on the hand where he reportedly had a finger sprain and that Smith doesn't think it's serious. Smith told him he's optimistic he plays Sunday. Why does that matter? Smith is averaging 11 points and 7.8 rebounds in 22.5 minutes a game. And the Bulls score 27.3 more points per 100 possessions with him on the floor. He's also on a franchise run. He's two plus minus points for passing Nikola Vucevic for sixth in franchise history. And he already passed Mike James for seventh. This is a team who can't shoot. And now the one big who works might be playing with a bad hand. So what's on the calendar? Sunday at home against Philadelphia. The Sixers are the team that beat Chicago by 19 on November 2nd, 126-107. Wilson scored 24 that night, and it still wasn't close. Then comes Wednesday, November 11th at home against the Spurs. That's two tough games at home, and the Bulls are 1-7 right now, and they could quickly drop to 1-9. And the whole thing hangs on just three questions. Does Jalen Smith's hand hold up? Does Wilson get his minutes back? And does anybody else on this team knock down three? So here's the verdict. So start with the coach. Splitter is right. You can't win by taking turns shooting one-on-one and hoping. But a coach who calls out a rookie in public owns part of this too. The kid is 19.5 points a game and he's getting blamed for the 30. The roster's 27.2% from three. 30th of 30 in the league is a construction problem. You can't fix that with a speech. And then the luck. Smith's hand might be nothing. It might not. That's one thing nobody can coach. So what is the real problem? It isn't just one thing. The Bulls can't shoot, and their head coach just told their star rookie that he needs to be tougher. If Smith plays Sunday against Philadelphia, you'll learn if this team can stop the bleeding. If he doesn't, it gets a lot uglier.