The Chicago Bulls have gone from being one of the crown jewels of the eastern conference to a team fighting for a spot in the playoffs as a eighth seed. Injuries, a change in team chemistry and also change in coaching (Fred Hoiberg‘s offensive oriented style greatly differs from Tom Thibodeau‘s defensive oriented style) has the Bulls in limbo.
The Bulls longtime sixth man Taj Gibson has stated he’s seen enough, and he’s quite embarrassed that he’s been a member of a team losing to teams of a lesser caliber.
Via ESPN:
“Hell yeah, I’m embarrassed,” Gibson said after the Bulls’ 106-94 defeat. “I take pride in wearing this jersey. I love wearing the Bulls jersey. Especially what we’ve been through, I take pride in playing for Chicago. When I wear that jersey, I try to go out there and play my heart out. And it’s frustrating when we come up short, and we look at ourselves, we’re losing to … I don’t want to criticize any[body], [but] trash teams. Everybody’s in the NBA for a reason, but we’re playing against teams that are not playing for anything, and we’re just laying down. It feels like now we’re a target. It feels like teams are not taking us serious.
The psych that Bulls teams in the past put on other teams is now long gone. Gibson believes teams now don’t have a fear of the Bulls; they want to play them.
“Teams are more eager to play us. [In years prior,] it was vice versa. They knew we were coming in to punch people in the face and keep playing. It’s just, it’s hard, man. It really eats me up inside. It’s really hard to sleep at night knowing it’s coming down to the wire, and our effort isn’t there. It’s really frustrating.”
