Hawks Draught Continues Bulls Still Have a Pulse

 

April 22, 2021

The ineptitude of Chicago’s winter teams has made them painful to watch.  In the NHL, half of the teams make the playoffs. In the NBA, 10 of 15 teams get chance to move on.  No matter how easy it is, these teams have been absent for years.

The Blackhawks began the season allowing 20 goals in four games.  They decided rookie Kevin Lankinen looked the best option and was given the chance to be the primary goalie. Although the Hawks weren’t putting up much offense, Lankinen was spectacular in leading the team to victories.

The Blackhawks were 14-9-5 and were at the top of the standings. Since then they have stumbled, and were 2 points behind the Nashville Predators prior to a three game series. After two games, they fell into sixth place trailing the Predators and Dallas North Stars by three points. The season is all but over, as the Stars have played two less games and have three left against last place Detroit.

Patrick Kane is still one of the best offensive players in the league, and line mate Alex DeBrincat is a proven goal scorer. Domonic Kubalik has only 15 goals this year. This may be because they traded away line mate Brandon Saad. They are high on some youngsters who have failed to impress. Pius Suter, Philipp Kurashev and Brandon Hagel have a combined 28 goals, only 5 more than DeBrincat. Kane is the only player who can carry the puck down ice. The rest of the offense is dump and chase. No other teams I’ve watched use this outdated offensive scheme.

GM Stan Bowman has acquired a slew of young defensemen. However, the Hawks still have trouble clearing their zone. If you are rebuilding, Duncan Keith, whose skills are deteriorating, makes no sense. He is losing battles for pucks along the boards and committing turnovers in the Hawks end.  Bowman’s only success has been adding rent-a-players to help win championships. The core was put together by his predecessor Dale Tallon. The Haws haven’t made the playoffs in four years with Bowman in charge. It’s time to move on and hire a new GM. 

The Bulls finally got the message and took the keys from John Paxson and Gar Forman. Arturus Karnisovas, who had success in Denver was hired to run this team. His first moves

were hiring a real head coach, Billy Donovan, and drafting 19 year old Patrick Williams.

The defense allowed 130 points in the Bulls first two games. The Bulls then went 8-7 and were trying to reach .500, good enough to put them in the playoffs. They never reached .500, taking one step forwards and two steps back. The offense is led by Zach LaVine. While he is a prolific scorer, he has no help. There is a big problem with your team if Thaddeus Young is your second best player. Lauri Markkanen, who was supposed to be a big part of the rebuild, is now coming off the bench. This is probably his last season with the team. Coby White, another number 7 overall pick has also has been relegated to the bench. The supposed point guard hasn’t been able to guide the offense, makes terrible decisions and is a major defensive liability.

Karnisovas made some major moves, trading mercurial oft injured number seven pick Wendell Carter, for all-star center Nikola Vucevic. He also picked up Daniel Theis, a big power who should help the defense.  They were brought in to help the Bulls get the number 10 seed. However, the team proceeded to lose many games and are on the outside looking in. If the Bulls acquire a good point guard to go with LaVine, Vucevic and Williams, this could be a very good team.