So sad:Bulls’ ‘Big Three’ is broken and has been broken for quite some time

Bulls’ ‘Big Three’ is broken and has been broken for quite some time

Nikola Vucevic said in October that the “Big Three” of himself, DeMar DeRozan and Zach LaVine needed to deliver early this season or there would be an or-else. We’ve reached or-else.

The Bulls front office thought that the “Big Three” had at least one more year together to make a push. It now looks broken, and it’s been that way for some time.

NEW YORK — It was Christmas in March for Bulls guard Zach LaVine in 2021, when, thanks to a trade-deadline deal with the Magic, he was given a 6-10 Montenegrin built to post double-doubles on a nightly basis while spreading the floor with long-range shooting ability.
“I’ve always wanted to play with a dominant big, and you know we’re obviously going to have to figure out our chemistry,’’ LaVine said then. “But a guy like Vucevic is so talented offensively, he’s dominant in the post, in the mid-range, he facilitates, he can pop for the three, so I think a combination of us in pick-and-roll, pick-and-pops, is going to be deadly.”

Deadly? Well, Lavine was close. Less than two seasons later, the Bulls’ core is dead.

LaVine, Vucevic and a later addition, veteran forward/guard DeMar DeRozan, were expected to change the fortunes of the Bulls, who went from the legacy teams of the ’90s to a rebirth under coach Tom Thibodeau to a laughingstock.

The trio had legs initially, leading the Bulls to the 2022 playoffs, where they lost to the defending champion Bucks in the first round.

But by last season, the writing was on the wall that the core was broken. Unfortunately, the Bulls’ front office didn’t read it.

And now the “Big Three” know their time together is winding down.

“This is probably our last shot to make something happen, and we’re aware of that,” Vucevic said in October. ‘‘It’s on us to deliver.”

So far, what they’ve delivered is a 5-13 record, better than only the Pistons and the Wizards in the East, and the odds of one or more of them being traded are increasing.

“Rumors come with the territory,’’ Vucevic said. “If you’re playing well, everything is great. Everybody is talking positive about you. If you’re losing, you get criticized and rumors start. . . . The only way to deal with it is for us to play better. That’s the only way for that to stop.”

The situation is more than that, though. While DeRozan is still close with both LaVine and Vucevic on and off the court, the LaVine-Vucevic relationship seems to be disintegrating — on the floor, if not in the locker room. Television cameras have caught Vucevic visibly upset about LaVine’s missed defensive assignments, including several instances Saturday in a loss to the Raptors.

Vucevic seemed to go out of his way to bring up communication issues after Monday’s loss to the Nets and mentioned “honoring the [defensive] call that someone calls.”

“Even if it’s wrong, we’ve got to honor [it] if that person feels it’s the right call,” he said.

If guard Alex Caruso isn’t out there, the center should be yelling out a lot of the calls, and that’s Vucevic. In other words, someone is not honoring his call. Maybe it’s not LaVine, but he’s the one who has most often popped on film blowing assignments this season.

Can winning turn this all around? It’s a nice thought, but this group might be too far gone. Since LaVine has indicated he’s all for playing somewhere else, the Bulls are 1-6. If the player with the max contract wants to let go of the rope, what are the rest pulling for?

The trade rumors are only going to intensify as the losing continues.

“It doesn’t bother me,” LaVine said. “It hasn’t in the past. I go out there and try to do my job and try to help us win. If [winning] doesn’t happen, you understand what comes with it.”