WASHINGTON – It wasn’t the kind of shot that Wizards rookie Carlton Carrington had been practicing.
At least he better not be.
Midway through the first half, the No. 14 overall pick from Pittsburgh split the Bulls defense and had a clear path for an easy basket. One problem: The basketball had other ideas. The ball slipped as Carrington was going up and he actually flung the ball into the shot clock propped on top of the backboard.
Nothing but LED lights.
Carrington leaned his head on the padding of the support in embarrassment.
This is what a rebuild looks like.
A proper lack of real talent, pain-filled rebuild. Take notes, Arturas.
Thanks to 21 points from Coby White, the Bulls handed Washington its 12th straight loss 127-108, dropping the Wizards to 2-14 on the season. Small picture? The Bulls kept themselves alive to advance in the NBA Cup, improving to 2-1 in Group C pool play. Big picture, however? It was a showcase game for Bulls executive vice president of basketball operations Arturas Karnisovas to watch just how bad other NBA front offices are willing to get in hopes of buying a lottery ticket for the Cooper Flagg draft sweepstakes in June.
Not exactly the concern for Billy Donovan, however.
All the coach cared about was there continued being progress made on the product. Offense, defense, pacing, rebounding, all of it.
“You look at a couple things in terms of what (the Wizards) are strong at,” Donovan said. “They’ve been up there with us in pace, they score a lot of points in transition. I think you look at it as, ‘OK, what are the things that we’re supposed to be doing?’ How did we get back in transition against one of the better teams pace-wise? Do we make any steps there? What about the coverages, as far as the communication and the talk?”
All boxes Donovan felt good about checking.
The Wizards were a good steppingstone for that, but he also knows what’s next in facing the Magic on Wednesday night.
“I think you have to play who is in front of you, and you look at it as, ‘Did we do the things we’ve talked about doing?’ “ Donovan said. “No question there was growth.
“Coming out of this game it’s not like, ‘Oh wow, everything is fixed.’ My thing is can we do it (Wednesday) night against a team that’s bigger, stronger, more athletic?”
The only real resistance from the Wizards came in the opening quarter as Wizards forward Kyle Kuzma came out of the gate looking for a big scoring night, putting up 15 points on 6-of-11 from the field. That was the last highlight Washington would have on the night.
Not only did the Bulls (8-11) take control of the game in the second, but they did so in impressive fashion, outscoring the Wizards 40-18 and did so by shooting 62% from the field in the stanza. Meanwhile, Kuzma & Co. went dry, going 8-for-22 (36%) in the second, while turning the ball over six times.
That’s what Bulls players wanted to focus on. The steps that were made.
“This is the NBA so it’s great players all across the league,” Ayo Dosunmu said of the win. “You really can’t look at records because each and every night you’ve got players who are hungry to prove themselves. You have to look at it internally of how you can get better.”
Boxes that Dosunmu wanted to check off. The Bulls didn’t allow another 140-plus night, they kept the turnovers under 17 (11 to be exact), and they didn’t let up when they had the lead.
“What did we give up, 108?” Dosunmu said. “I thought we played a great defensive game. What was our turnovers, 11? That’s another thing we harped on.
“That progress.”
Progress both teams made on Tuesday, but for very different reasons.
