The Chicago Bulls have not had a great month of January so far having a below .500 record at 4-8 for the month.
The Bull’s recent play has been poor with some players seemingly giving little effort during crunch time which led head coach Billy Donovan to burn a timeout and go animated towards young guys for their lack of effort in the closing minutes of Thursday’s ball game against the Warriors.
It seems like Donovan’s message is starting to trickle down finally to the players with Bulls guard Ayo Dosunmu being equally as frustrated as Donovan.
Dosunmu speaks out on the Chicago Bulls lack of consistency
While speaking to the media after the Bull’s loss to the Golden State Warriors Dosunmu was frustrated with the Bull’s lack of effort and consistency and the Bulls on CHSN was there to capture all that Dosunmu had to say.
“That’s more the way that I try to look at it.” Ayo on his frustration in trying to find consistency.”
"That's more the way that I try to look at it."
Ayo on his frustration in trying to find consistency. pic.twitter.com/0k3u9IJ4qy
— Bulls on CHSN (@CHSN_Bulls) January 24, 2025
Dosunmu has given the Bulls a productive season by averaging 30.4 minutes with 12.4 points, 4.6 assists, and 3.8 rebounds, and is shooting 49.5% from the floor and a low 32.4% from beyond the arc. Dosunmu has also appeared in 34 of the Bull’s possible 45 games this season missing some time with a right lower calf strain.
The Bull’s major issues
Donovan put it the best with what the Bull’s problem is and that is they play down to their competition and they get outrebounded and turn the ball over too much.
“We’re good enough to do that against anybody. So, I don’t even look at it as playing up or playing down. If we don’t play to our potential, it doesn’t make a difference who’s out there,” Donovan said before Wednesday’s game, per Scotty White of Clutch Points.
“We have to play to what we’ve tried to establish as our identity for most of the year, and for the most part, we’ve done a pretty good job. But certainly, the things that have hurt us at times have been the rebounding, which was a factor yesterday, and then also the turnovers. That was a problem as well. But we’ve got to be able to do better [with] some of the things that we have control over.”
That has been the Bull’s biggest issue in turnovers and giving up too many second-chance points off the offensive glass. The Bulls have let their opponents grab 149 offensive rebounds this month, while they were only able to take down 132 offensive boards of their own. For the turnover department, it is much worse with the Bulls giving up 166 TO to their opponents 143. The Bulls have also allowed a staggering 618 points in the paint while only scoring just 36 points more of their own at 654.
To right this ship the Bulls have to limit the turnovers as well as box out and rebound better so second-chance points aren’t scored as often against them. This lack of effort is what led to Donovan being forced to call a timeout to make his young players understand that they need to show more effort and take better care of the basketball which Bulls inside K.C. Johnson witnessed.
“Billy Donovan said he called late timeout, where he was animated with the young players because he didn’t like the way that unit was playing. Said Bulls lost their identity in the second half.”
Billy Donovan said he called late timeout, where he was animated with the young players, because he didn’t like the way that unit was playing. Said Bulls lost their identity in second half. https://t.co/iQgopXOqNj
— K.C. Johnson (@KCJHoop) January 24, 2025
Will the Bulls turn things around?
Time will ultimately tell if the Bulls have it in them to turn things around and pull themselves out of this spiral they are in.
With the trade deadline fast approaching and players like Zach LaVine and Nikola Vucevic garnering more and more interest the Bulls roster could change a lot in the next few weeks.
It is on the Bulls’s young players and their veterans to quickly turn things around if they want to have any hope of not going into another rebuild.
Chicago Bulls star deserves to be honored for his play this month
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