Bulls front office continues disguising hope as 'competitiveness'

The 17-point loss to Boston on Thursday surprised absolutely no one associated with the Bulls organization.

Just another reminder of how flawed the thinking of this front office has become.

Sure, there was hope. Hope that the Celtics had a very off-night from outside the three-point line, hope that they take the Bulls lightly out of the all-star break, hope that one of their stars – Jayson Tatum, Jaylen Brown, Jrue Holiday or Kristaps Porzingis (pick one) – tweaks a hammy.

That’s where executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas is these days. Relying on hope and disguising it under an umbrella of “competitiveness.”

There are two factors working against Karnisovas & Co., however: Math and reality.

First, the math component for a team that has now slipped to 26-30 on the season with 26 games left, and currently sits in the No. 9 spot of the Eastern Conference.

While the Bulls have played better since the 5-14 start, all they have really done is beat the teams they’re supposed to beat. That means they’ve been very good at beating bum teams.

In the 22 games against teams under .500, the Bulls are an impressive 17-5. In the 34 games against teams .500 or better? Quite a different outcome, evident by the 9-25 record.

Just in the next 11 games alone, the Bulls face nine teams above .500. Overall, they will play 16 games against teams above. 500. That means the best case scenario is they finish the season with 12 wins over this final push, leaving them near or at 38-44.

The Bulls entered Friday trailing No. 8 seed Miami by 4 ½ games and No. 7 Orlando by five, Both the Heat and Magic have easier remaining schedules and will likely finish with the tiebreaker over the Bulls. No. 9 feels like it’s pretty much locked at this point.

The good news is it still might get the Bulls a home play-in game in the No. 9-10 meeting thanks to an Atlanta team that puts the “fun” in dysfunction.

The Hawks are not only chasing the Bulls but have a tougher schedule in trying to catch them. The two teams play one more time this season, but the Bulls already have the season series in their pocket.

There aren’t a lot of opposing rosters the Bulls match-up well against, but for some reason they have Atlanta’s number. If that continues that means the Bulls will find themselves in a very familiar spot – fighting for their play-in lives against the loser of what currently looks to be Miami vs. Orlando.

Last season, the Bulls – then a No. 10 seed – beat Toronto in the first play-in game and then got a full dose of Jimmy Butler in the win-of-go-home game, as the former Bull destroyed them in crunch time to end the run.

But what if hope does smile on the Bulls and they do get out of the play-in tournament? The reward is a top-seeded Boston squad that has now outscored them by 44 points in two meetings.

Now math aside, there’s a reality component to this.

The left foot injury for Patrick Williams is getting internally concerning, especially with how slowly the rehabilitation has been moving along. The forward has missed the last 10 games, and there’s a definite void of defensive physicality without him.

Then add in the right knee sprain for Torrey Criag, who will be re-evaluated in a two-to-four-week window, and there’s a reason why rookie Julian Phillips was the sixth man against Boston.

There are not only minutes concerns for starters like DeMar DeRozan and Coby White, but coach Billy Donovan is also forced to throw Alex Caruso and Ayo Dosunmu at bigger bodies on a nightly basis.

The hope is it will be sustainable.

Then again, that’s all the Bulls have – hope.