Bulls forget the running shoes for a night and Kings make them pay

SACRAMENTO, Calif. — While the Bulls’ offense has slowed down a tick since the roster purge, it still would get ticketed in most school zones.It remains in the top three in pace.

But coach Billy Donovan had a message Sunday: Play faster. A message they get loud and clear but are still trying to work through as shown in a lackluster 126-110 loss to the lowly Kings.

“I knew a little bit about Coach [before the trades], and whenever we played the Bulls, we knew it was going to be a track meet, so bring your running shoes,” guard Collin Sexton said. “Now being on the team, it’s pretty cool to be in that position, to be in open space and getting used to it. That’s the biggest thing, trying to get used to it.”

Hence, the inconsistency.

The two-point victory Thursday against the Suns was the best Donovan’s team has looked since the roster was flipped at the trade deadline. The Bulls ran the Suns out of their building, beating them 22-10 on fast-break points, and had only 12 turnovers.

Even with a few practices under their belt since that showing, the game Sunday against the Kings was a reminder of how work they still has to be done in the running department. The Bulls only mustered four fast-break points in the first half and nine for the game.

They did get a team-high 28 points from Sexton, but he also left the game late with a leg contusion. Matas Buzelis added 20.

“I give the new guys grace because it is hard, especially when you add in the fast pace with which we play,” forward Isaac Okoro said of the inconsistencies in the high-tempo offense. “Guys are still getting used to that. It’s hard to go from a slower team to how we play, then also try to have that physical identity.”

They didn’t show either early against the Kings.

And while Okoro was spot on by pointing out that Anfernee Simons and Sexton came from systems that weren’t even close to running at the tempo the Bulls do, there’s also another layer to the ongoing issues. Some of the new additions weren’t even playing much, never mind conditioning.

“The biggest issue I think was the fact that a lot of those guys were coming from situations where they were not playing at all,” Donovan said. “Like [Yabusele Guerschon] wasn’t playing, Nick [Richards] wasn’t playing, Rob [Dillingham] wasn’t playing, so I think the pace has been a little different. We went through some of that with Tre [Young], Zach [Collins] and Kevin Huerter last year.”

That’s true, but Young and Huerter had games that easily translated to what Donovan was looking for. Dillingham is kind of in that same category because of his quickness, but for Richards, and especially Guerschon, this change of zip codes has been a wake-up call.

“I think they are getting better conditioned,” Donovan said. “I think the other part for us, which we’ve been trying to concentrate on and focus on, is when we get into the halfcourt, our spacing, guys understanding what we’re trying to do, how we’re trying to play.”

But who exactly will even be sticking around for that growth?

That’s the other layer to this. Donovan has been putting a lot of his time into speeding the new guys up, and more than half of them could be elsewhere next season because of free agency.

Until Donovan is told otherwise, however, it’s business as usual. Like Sexton said, bring the running shoes.