The Bulls Should Tank

With just 22 games left in the regular season, the Bulls have suffered some pretty severe injuries the last few weeks that put their already tenuous hold on the 3 seed in jeopardy. Derrick Rose, Taj Gibson, and Jimmy Butler are all expected to miss significant time as the season winds down. All, however, could be back for the playoffs. Gibson's injury should only keep him out a few weeks, but given his history with ankle injuries that might be optimistic. Both Rose and Butler are expected back at the longest six weeks from now, which would bring us right about to the first round of the playoffs.

Which is why the Bulls should hold them all out of games when they're ready and tank the rest of the regular season.

With so few games left, it is highly unlikely that the Bulls fall out of the playoffs. Nor do I think they should. But it would be ideal that they plan the rest of the season to grab one of the lower conference seeds and get a favorable first round matchup, either against Atlanta or more likely Toronto.

Even at full strength, it's unlikely the Bulls would hold off the Cavs for the rest of the year. With the injury concerns they have, you'd have to think Washington easily passes them as well. If they Bulls played hard the rest of the year, they'd likely have the five seed and a road series against Washington. With the way the Bulls have played Washington the last few years, I wouldn't like their odds completely healthy. And I doubt many would feel favorable about a first round matchup with Clevland as well.

So I'm calling on the Bulls to do the most logical thing - tank the rest of the season. Something around 5 -17 should do it. Keep the injured players off the court until the last few games of the year, and limit the action of players like Gasol and Noah, who are injuries waiting to happen. The Bulls are likely going to see road series throughout the playoffs now anyway. If they play poor enough the rest of the way, they can choose who they face first and possibly avoid the toughest matchups for themselves twice in the playoffs. More importantly, they can dictate how healthy they are when they get to the series. It might be against the nature of the entire Bulls culture under Tom Thibodeau, but it's probably the only way the Bulls have a shot at the title this year.