Andre Drummond had no clue what the Bulls roster would look like by Thursday’s NBA trade deadline.
That included the veteran big man talking about himself.
All the reserve center knew was he had packed for the three-city road trip, unsure who exactly would finish it out.
“I’ve preached the same message even when I was in Detroit,” Drummond said of the looming deadline and rumors surrounding it. “It’s the part of the season I can’t control. See what happens, play the game of basketball, the thing I can control, and let the cards fall where they may.”
Where they fell on Monday was directly on the heads of the struggling Spurs, as the Bulls (26-27) overcame a sluggish second and third quarter, to pull away in the fourth and turn it into a 128-104 laugher.
The team’s third-straight win, as well as their fourth over the last five games.
A loud enough statement for the front office to be buyers instead of sellers? Maybe, but as the Sun-Times has been reporting, all indications over the last few weeks were the Bulls were not looking to be aggressive sellers, even with all the inconsistencies this season.
Executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas likes to play things close to the vest, and as of Monday, making some smaller tweaks to the Bulls roster was the possibility that had picked up the most steam around the league.
One of those tweaks could involve sending out Drummond, even with the big man playing one of his better games of the year against the Spurs, scoring 21 points and grabbing 15 rebounds.
Even with Karnisovas and coach Billy Donovan publicly insisting they had an open-door policy for any players with those kinds of questions, Drummond didn’t sound interested in knocking.
“I don’t think that’s my job to do,” Drummond said. “If anything it’s the agent’s job. As a player, I don’t think I should be asking those kinds of questions.”
Not that the Bulls made the entire night easy on themselves, but against lesser competition they seldom do.
Building a 12-point first-half lead, the slippage actually started late in the second quarter, when they let the Spurs gain some momentum and actually outscore them by eight points in the stanza.
That inconsistent play carried on through the third, with San Antonio (14-40) actually grabbing the lead with 4:31 left thanks to two Zach Collins free throws.
Then DeMar DeRozan said enough was enough, as the veteran hit a jumper with 1:33 left in the third to reclaim the lead, followed by the hoop and harm a minute later, and a 16-footer with eight seconds left in the third.
When the smoke cleared around DeRozan, the Bulls entered the fourth back on top 90-85.
Less than three minutes into the fourth, the Spurs’ youth and inexperience was completely exposed, and the Bulls built the lead back to 12, taking advantage of turnovers and empty possessions.
“I thought we were much more active defensively,” Donovan said of the turnaround. “We had a hard time for maybe two-and-a-half quarters when they were just coming downhill. I just thought are defensive intensity changed, our presence at the basket changed, and took away opportunities for them to pass.”
According to Spurs Hall-of-Fame coach Gregg Popovich, the current issues with his team goes much deeper than turnovers.
“These guys think they’re all stars in their own right, and the first thing before they’re even coached, they have to learn it’s not about them,” Popovich said of the growing pains he’s been going through with his roster. “They’ve got to get over themselves, they’re not that great. I don’t see Kobe or LeBron out there, so we’ve got to do it together. All those things.”
