This team clearly has issues right now, but do you hear yourself when you get this worked up over a stretch of bad games in January? The Bulls need to prove they can win in the playoffs under Thibodeau for me to have any sort of confidence going forward. They're 17-22 under Thibs in the playoffs in his coaching tenure. Which has what to do with the post you quoted? Plus Thibs' playoff record with the Bulls is skewed by not having Rose for two years.
Why would they suddenly quit on him after all this time? And seemingly right after winning 10 of 11? That kind of space-filling nonsense annoys the piss out of me. Noah was hobbling around like a crippled mule before he went down. Gasol has come way back down to Earth. Butler's super soldier serum seemingly wore off inexplicably right after the news he was going to get a max offer. Brooks and Rose are seemingly the only ones generating any offense consistently right now, and apparently only Taj can play defense. They need McDermott back and shooting and they, surprisingly, need Dunleavy.
Team is tuning out Thibs, it's pretty clear at this point. Defense is bad, energy is bad, rebounding is bad. This really isn't a very good team. Isn't a prolonged stretch of suckiness bad enough without this kind of sizzling hot meatballin'?
Nope. Then, who is the third baseman? Find it hard to believe they'd start actually trying and then throw Olt out there. He can't even see! They'll prop up an empty uniform on a broomstick at 3B if it means they get more Bryant-control. He's simply not starting the season with the Cubs.
Doesn't seem like too egregious a call. Wouldn't be surprising at all if it played out that way. Even if you think it's really really close (which I don't...projections have them like 6 games apart), it wouldn't make sense for a near unanimous belief going the other way. It seems like every time it's asked, everyone picks White Sox for some weird reason. It's not THAT weird; sports journalists are terrible human beings, people love buying into the idea that the Cubs are doomed to always lose and baseball is an odd game.
It's trading from an area that would be a surplus by midseason Maaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaybe. They still have Castro, Baez, Alcantara, LaStella, Bryant and Russell for three spots. Yes, I know.