Are the Bulls Winning Too Much For Their Own Good? Billy Donovan Responds:

There is a rift in the Chicago Bulls fanbase. With the season already essentially down the drain, is it more important for the team to win or lose?

Nobody wants the once-proud franchise to lose games, but doing so may be the best way to secure a young, superstar talent in the NBA Draft. The worse Chicago's record gets, the higher the odds will be that the Bulls land a top-four pick, and even though that may lead to short-term pain for the team and its fans, the payoff from drafting the next face of the franchise has a good chance of making it worth it.

After all, the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder are a prime example of bottoming out and rebuilding through the draft. Even teams that didn't receive a treasure trove of draft capital in a lopsided trade, such as the Pistons, Spurs, Rockets and Magic, have risen from the bottom of the league to contenders in just three years. Over that same span, the Bulls have gone from the No. 10 seed in the Eastern Conference to the No. 12 seed.

The Bulls went 0-11 in February, leading fans to believe that the front office had finally chosen its direction: sell expiring contracts at the trade deadline and rebuild through young talent. Those same fans have been confused in March, when the team has compiled a 4-5 record. Shouldn't the team be trying to lose to gain better lottery odds?

There is an important aspect to remember, though, that many NBA fans fail to consider. Players and coaches don't tank — organizations do.

Billy Donovan made that clear after his Bulls defeated the Grizzlies on Monday night. Although it may be in the franchise's best long-term interest to improve its lottery odds, the Bulls are still trying to compete with the best teams in the league, night in and night out.

"Everything I've gotten from ownership and the front office has been about going out there and competing and trying to win," Donovan said in his post-game press conference. "I'm not that familiar with all the odds or percentages and things like that. I just know organizationally, and I respect it... These guys come here every day and they work hard, and they want to go out there, and compete, and try to do their very best they can, and I respect that."

The other part of the equation is the personnel that Chicago has on the floor. Young players like Rob Dillingham, Leonard Miller and (when healthy) Jaden Ivey are looking to show the Bulls' front office that they are a part of the team's future. Upcoming free agents like Collin Sexton, Anfernee Simons, Guerschon Yabusele and Nick Richards are playing for their next contracts.

Chicago is also dealing with a multitude of injuries. Simons (wrist), Ivey (knee), Sexton (knee), Josh Giddey (hamstring), Isaac Okoro (knee), Patrick Williams (quad) and Jalen Smith (calf) have all been in and out of the lineup. Noa Essengue (shoulder) and Zach Collins (toe) are out for the year with their respective injuries. Even Matas Buzelis — an ironman so far in his young career — was forced to miss a game with a hamstring strain.

That leaves Donovan with no choice but to play the healthiest athletes, regardless of whether they are expected to help his team win games or improve its odds in the NBA Draft Lottery.

"We're playing the guys that are available, trying to give those guys an opportunity to play and have them also contribute to the team," Donovan continued. "I do know that, from my conversations, there is a professional integrity that they feel we have a responsibility to go out there and put our best foot forward. I respect that and appreciate that as a coach, because I'm out there with these guys too, but I also understand where the [tanking] question is coming from."

Difficult circumstances have put the Bulls in an unfortunate situation, but that situation could have been completely avoided with better foresight and an actual sense of direction. Arturas Karnisovas and Marc Eversley sold too low and too late on Zach LaVine, DeMar DeRozan, Nikola Vucevic, Ayo Dosunmu and Coby White, and the hauls that the Bulls might've received from those trades could have springboarded a rebuild into the next iteration of the team.

Instead, Chicago is stuck heading toward the bottom of the league without a strong foundation of draft picks to support it. That's not the fault of the players who are trying their best to win, whether it's due to contract situations, long-term auditions, personal pride or the integrity of the game.