Getty Kevin Durant warming up before the Brooklyn Nets took on the Los Angeles Lakers on April 10.
Even amidst this grey area between the playoffs and draft lottery, the Chicago Bulls are optimistic about their future. So is Kevin Durant, apparently.
The Brooklyn Nets’ two-time champion went live on Twitter’s new feature Spaces on Friday afternoon, where he offered high praise for the Bulls current core.
After their most recent loss to the league-worst Minnesota Timberwolves, Chicago has fallen to 22-30.
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A Glowing Review
Because of the dissolving nature of Twitter’s Spaces feature, you typically can’t revisit any dialogue made during the session. Thankfully, @NotARoleModel on Twitter screen recorded a portion of it:
salute @KDTrey5
Big 3 🔜
@NikolaVucevic @ZachLaVine @CobyWhite
When asked about the Chicago Bulls, Nikola Vucevic and Zach LaVine in particular, Durant responded excitedly:
Bro, when you got guys like them two – sh*t, I want to throw Coby White in there too because I feel like he is a apart of their future and he’s going to be the guy that’s the point – you got three guys that can get it from three levels on the court.
Currently, things are kind of rough in the Windy City. Chicago can’t escape the chains of the Eastern Conference’s 10th seed, having lost back-to-back games after winning three straight last week.
Even still, Durant thinks the Bulls foundation is solid at it’s core:
I don’t give a [expletive] what else you got, you got something with that. Two All-Stars at that, and one other guy – he’s a wildcard right now – but can go off crazy and get you 30 on any given night. When you got that on your team, that’s a great start.
For what it’s worth, Coby White hasn’t scored 30 or more since February.
And Chicago’s lost the last three games where Lavine scored 30 or more.
That includes Friday night’s loss to the Atlanta Hawks, where he scored 50.
Vucevic notched 32 points in his sixth game with Chicago, a win over the Pacers, but they’re just 3-6 since his arrival.
Maybe having multiple guys capable of scoring 30 points on any given basis isn’t all it’s made out to be.
Given the option, I’m sure the the Bulls would rather have Durant.
The Road to Playoffs
The Chicago Bulls’ path to the postseason is riddled with tough competition.
In order to secure their spot in the play-in tournament, they’ll need to capitalize on the short-term slate.
Chicago’s next four games are all winnable, if they revert to the form they took during their three-game win streak: away at Memphis, and then home games versus Orlando, Memphis, and Cleveland.
After that, the Bulls will play only four teams with an under .500 record over their last 16. And one of those, is the eighth-seed New York Knicks, holders of the NBA’s best defense this season.
The Toronto Raptors are Chicago’s biggest competition, but they’ve got a two-game lead over them in the standings, with a win over them last week to boost.
Tankathon.com has the Raptors’ remaining schedule ranked the toughest in the entire Eastern Conference and fourth in the league, with the Bulls’ not far behind them at third, ninth in the entire NBA.
If the Chicago Bulls don’t get it together, they could be in for a photo finish.
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