There seems to be 2 schools of thought as the season winds down. It appears over in Cleveland with the Cavaliers, despite what kind of rest LeBron James wants, the Cavs and their coach David Blatt want to secure the 2 seed in the East, no matter what. They would rather get that high seed instead of making sure all of the team is healthy and clicking on all cylinders.
Meanwhile in Chicago, the Cavs division rival Bulls might think the contrary. With Derrick Rose, Jimmy Butler and Taj Gibson all fighting off recent injuries and Joakim Noah on a new minutes restriction, it appears that one member of the Bulls doesn’t quite see where coach Blatt is coming from.
Following from Vincent Goodwill of CSN Chicago.
Gibson doesn’t see the value in returning just to win a couple extra games and putting the team in position of jeopardizing it’s long-term playoff prospects with diminishing health.
“Right now you never really know in the east,” Gibson said. “It’s about playing in the east getting a nice rhythm going, try to get as many wins as possible and whatever the chips fall, they fall. Just gotta know you have the team fully healthy.”
Gibson is right, after all the east is the east. No matter what you need to go through Cleveland or the Atlanta Hawks to get anywhere far in the playoffs. So if the Bulls, who currently stand at 41-28 which is good for fourth in the East, rush back Rose or Butler before they’re ready, it could put a temporary fix on the record right now but down the line, when it really matters, it might not work out.
We see what’s going on now in Oklahoma City with the Thunder trying to get Kevin Durant back sooner than he was ready and it’s not ending well for them. Now the long-term health and record of the Thunder will be affected. The Bulls are poised to make noise this season, so whenever their guy are ready, they will be out there. Nothing sooner.
