Billy Donovan was trying to play the role of optimist.
After all, someone within the Bulls organization needed to.
The coach was asked about the trade talk surrounding Zach LaVine now draining into the locker room, slowly poisoning the well, and dismissed the likelihood of any scenario like that happening.
“I spent quite a bit of time with Zach this summer,’’ Donovan said. “I went out two different times to (Los Angeles) and visited with him. He’s great. He’s always been very welcoming when I’ve come out there. We’ve always had really, really good conversations. He’s always responsive to text messages and phone calls and things like that. So I’ve not seen anything where it’s like, ‘OK, this guy has really pushed himself all the way over here. He’s just totally disconnected from everybody.’ I have not seen that at all.’’
Maybe so, but there was definitely something seen in Wednesday’s 96-94 loss to the Magic, and it wasn’t pretty.
In one of the worse games of the Donovan era, the Bulls (4-8) looked lifeless on both ends of the floor – especially in the first half – against an Orlando team that was playing the second night of a back-to-back and had to travel from New York.
Sure, there was no DeMar DeRozan, who was away from the team for personal reasons, but it was set up for LaVine to play leading man and put his teammates on his shoulders.
With seven seconds left in regulation it seemed like he would, with LaVine hitting a clutch three-pointer to tie a game in which the Bulls trailed by 17 points in the third. But Orlando’s Paolo Banchero had the last laugh, all but ending the game with a 7-foot turnaround, ending any hopes the home team had of pulling off the comeback.
“One of those things that (Banchero) got there (in the paint),’’ Donovan said. “We probably needed to bring a few more hands there. We should have had multiple contests late.’’
As for LaVine, his season-long struggles continued, finishing with 19 points, but doing so on a 6-for-16 night that actually started off as a 2-for-8 showing in the first half.
“He’s missing shots at the backboard,’’ Donovan said. The coach couldn’t explain why exactly, but didn’t see a guy that was distracted.
LaVine sure didn’t think so.
“I’ve had this news for three years,’’ he said afterward when asked if the day’s news was weighing on him in the loss. “It’s nothing new to me. Regular Wednesday.’’
Considering the Bulls scored just 33 points in the first half, the entire rotation looked distracted.
“There’s no solution to shooting the basketball,’’ Donovan said. “If you go back to the Milwaukee game we got hurt in transition and fouls, and (Wednesday) we got hurt with offensive rebounds. We need to get our focus off shooting and focus on the things we can control. When you can take your mind off shooting you understand there are other ways to win.’’
Caru-show
The Bulls did receive some good news before the Magic game, getting Alex Caruso back from a toe injury that cost him two games.
Donovan said there were no minutes restrictions for Caruso, but the Bulls do have a back-to-back starting on Friday, and that could be the real test of how many minutes they want to play the first-team All-Defensive guard.
Magic act
There have been multiple reports that LaVine never got over Donovan benching him in the final minutes of a Nov. 18 loss to Orlando last season, and that was brought up to the coach yet again.
“I would check with Zach if he’s reporting that,’’ Donovan said. “I haven’t heard that from Zach at all. I think at the moment he was upset. He’s a competitive guy. He wants to be out there for 48 minutes. But I haven’t heard that at all from him.’’