LOS ANGELES – Alex Caruso heard the news on the way to his Tuesday morning tee time.
In on South Beach was Terry Rozier, out of Miami was Kyle Lowry.
Yet another Eastern Conference team looking to make improvements by the Feb. 8 trade deadline, while the Bulls continued sitting on their hands.
How did Caruso process the Miami-Charlotte deal? In his eyes the Heat remained just another team they’ll have to get by.
“Yeah, it’s just that time of year,” Caruso said on Wednesday. “It started with James (Harden trade) in November, and then slowly deals have gotten done. It’s just another one for the Heat. I saw a couple of their games recently where the box score was like 80-some points, 90-some points … I think Terry for them adds another scoring element to a team that needs some of that.
“But as far as we go, I think when we put it on paper like we showed (against Phoenix on Monday), when we’re locked in and we’re good, we’re a really good team … if there is a move, we’ll be ready for it. If not, put our heads down and go to work.”
That’s kind of the attitude team-wise, and unfortunately, maybe front office-wise, considering how executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas firmly planted his flag on “Continuity” Hill for the last few seasons.
While sources continued insisting there was still no trade market for Zach LaVine – the one Bulls player who has openly said he would be up for being elsewhere – the Bulls remain very quiet on the idea of possibly pivoting and looking to trade Caruso or DeMar DeRozan, who is on an expiring contract.
With just seven games left before the deadline, there was growing momentum that the Bulls could stand pat. Coach Billy Donovan said nothing that insisted otherwise.
“The one thing that’s hard that I’m not always privy to in the front office is to have a deal, it takes two,” Donovan said. “You can sit there and do a lot of different things but maybe the asking price is too much for it or there’s just nothing there, someone might not be interested. So Arturas and Marc (GM Marc Eversley) are always looking for ways to get better, but sometimes you need to have a willing partner to work with. I do understand that, ‘Hey, snap your fingers, it’s just going to happen.’ It takes two people to come together on that.”
Where it could get interesting, however, is if Lowry, who came up in Toronto with DeRozan, is to get bought out by Charlotte and become a free agent, could the Bulls go in that direction?
DeRozan’s answer was obvious when he was asked if Lowry was a fit.
“Kyle will fit anywhere that I’m at,” DeRozan said.
But DeRozan is also one to stay out of front office business. Lowry as a free agent could change that.
“If it was asked,” DeRozan said, when asked if he would break his own code about staying in his own lane. “If that was something he wanted to do, for sure. Why not? That’s one of my closest friends, one of the smartest players I’ve ever played with since I’ve been in the league, so why not.”
But what if there’s no Lowry, no deals coming, just the same old roster for the remainder of the season, especially with New York, Toronto, Indiana, and Miami each being aggressive the last month?
“Man, we can beat anybody,” DeRozan said of that scenario. “I don’t worry about playing against or going against anybody in this league. So my confidence is at an all-time high with this team.”
Caruso agreed. Then again, his confidence should be high. After all, he did end up shooting an 83 that day.