MINNEAPOLIS — At last check, every Bulls guard was accounted for after the game against the Timberwolves on Thursday.
No one was left behind.
But one might be wearing Timberwolves blue by the Feb. 5 trade deadline, especially with rumors circulating about the teams being in talks. For now, however, Coby White, Ayo Dosunmu and Tre Jones were on the team flight.
That’s good news for coach Billy Donovan because, as he reminded the media, he needed all of them.
The Bulls don’t have an elite talent a la Anthony Edwards. They don’t even have a Julius Randle. But when everyone is healthy, they have a system that uses depth to try to shrink the talent gap. That system worked against Minnesota in a 120-115 victory.
“We’ve got to rely on each other,” Donovan said. “For our group, the whole has to be greater than the individual parts. If we can move the ball on offense, space correctly, generate really good shots, make really good decisions, take care of the ball, can we control the backboard defensively? Can we stay true to who we are identity-wise and still stay afloat by playing to that identity and style?”
And maybe that’s just one of the issues with this team. A lot of boxes have to be checked on a nightly basis rather than simply having that superstar who can be given the ball and can simply take over.
“The mentality has to be we all need each other,” Donovan said. “We have to accept that if we have six to eight guys every night in double figures, if we can share the basketball, there is not one primary guy that teams are trying to stop.”
To underline that point, seven Bulls scored in double figures, led by White with 22 points.
But it wasn’t easy. With a little more than six minutes left against the T-wolves, the Bulls (22-22) were down a point in the back-and-forth affair.
Rudy Gobert scored on a put-back and was fouled — no check for the “control the backboard defensively” box.
Nikola Vucevic put up an errant midrange shot. There went the “generate really good shots” strategy.
Josh Giddey committed a turnover on a pass to Vucevic. Go ahead and uncheck the “take care of the ball” box.
All the good things Donovan saw from his players throughout the game all but disappeared in a two-minute stretch in which Minnesota took a five-point lead.
It’s a good thing for the Bulls that this isn’t the same Timberwolves team that went to the Western Conference finals last season. The roster is mostly the same, but the product has been off. That’s why they’ve been discussing adding a guard from the Bulls.
The Sun-Times reported in early December that White was on their radar, but the free agent-to-be’s insistence on shopping in July became a stumbling block.
The other guard that caught Minnesota’s attention was Jones, and he helped his cause with a driving layup with 31.1 seconds left that gave the Bulls a one-point lead. After two free throws by Jalen Smith, Edwards missed a three-pointer from the corner.
White iced the game from the foul line.
“We’re feeling good; we like where we’re at,” Giddey said of the Bulls’ third consecutive victory.
“We’re at .500 now. This was a really tough test for us. They were pretty whole right now, no real injuries, and a really great win for us on the road against a good team. It gives us momentum moving forward.”
