The Chicago Bulls’ season did not get off to a great start on Wednesday night, as they lost 124-104 to the Oklahoma City Thunder. A loss in the first game of the season never feels good, especially when it’s a borderline blowout, but it’s just the first game, right? Guys are shaking off the rust and getting back into rhythm. No need to panic, because there are 81 more of these to go.
While “panic” might be a strong word for how the Bulls were feeling after the loss, there were certainly a lot of feelings flying around in the locker room. The players were in “heated” discussions about the game when head coach Billy Donovan walked in. He told the media that he asked the players if they wanted him to leave so they could continue their conversation, and they said yes. So he left.
Donovan didn’t call it a players-only meeting, but when players ask their coach to leave so they can discuss something, that’s a players-only meeting. However, he didn’t characterize it as a bad thing.
“I’m not going to sit there and say that it was bad, like people were tearing up the locker room,” Donovan said via ESPN. “It was nothing like that. They were in there talking. I walked in and they said, ‘Hey, Coach, can we talk?’ I said sure and I left.’
“There’s nothing personal about any of this stuff. These guys do care, and they want to be better, but they know there’s habits they’ve got to change, and they’ve got to break. And they’re talking about trying to do that collective as a group.”
Donovan wants Bulls to embrace conflict
The Bulls brought back their seven top players in minutes played from last year, but Donovan noted that the atmosphere is different with this group despite all the familiar faces.
“[The meeting] would’ve never happened last year. It would’ve been a quiet group,” Donovan said via NBC Sports Chicago. “So the confrontation piece is a sign that it’s important to them. And they know we’ve got to be better.”
Donovan was even zen about Nikola Vucevic getting in his face in the third quarter. The two had a heated exchange, for which Vucevic has already apologized, but Donovan later emphasized that he believes embracing conflict is key to success for this Bulls team.
“I think the confrontation piece is really, really good. I think it’s really healthy. And I think it needs to happen as much as possible,” Donovan said.
A lot can happen over the next six months. By the end of the season, this early team meeting may be identified as a moment that pushed the Bulls toward more growth, an important step on the staircase to relevance and contention and winning. Or it could be the moment that in retrospect signaled the start of a troubling, stumbling season.
Thankfully for the Bulls and their fans, the season is young. Very young. Young enough that not every team has even played their first game yet. There’s more than enough time to right the ship, no matter where it’s currently headed.
