(670 The Score) In the aftermath of the Bulls' embarrassing 150-126 loss to the Timberwolves on Sunday evening, guard Goran Dragic spoke of the need for everyone on the roster to sacrifice and do what's best for the team.
In the eyes of 670 hosts Dan Bernstein and Laurence Holmes, there are two players who really needed to hear that message – star guard Zach LaVine and star forward DeMar DeRozan. On Tuesday morning, Bernstein and Holmes criticized the lack of effort from LaVine and DeRozan, notably on the defensive end.
"I like what he said about the concept of sacrifice, where yeah, it's cool to talk about sacrifice when you're talking about someone else and that you have to understand that you also, you can't just talk about it, you also have to also sacrifice," Holmes said. "And they're not doing that, especially on defense, especially when you see not help the helper, you see them be late on help, you see them make bad decisions on going over or under screens depending on who the player is."
Click here to listen to the full segment with Bernstein & Holmes discussing the Bulls' struggles.
Bernstein then pointed out the Bulls' habit of switching screens to put themselves in difficult positions and also their penchant for miscommunicating about that task and thus giving up easy layups.
"If you want to name names, I've seen it happen to Zach and I've seen it happen to DeMar a bunch," Bernstein said. "Where the switch is made and by the time you realize, 'Oh, I have him now,' he's scored."
Holmes then took direct aim at LaVine, who signed a five-year, $215-million contract last July but hasn't produced consistently at the offensive end and who has been poor defensively as the Bulls have sunk to 11-18.
"It happened multiple times with Zach on Sunday in particular," Holmes said of defensive miscues. "And Zach is going to get the brunt of this because this is what he wanted, right? He wanted to be the guy. Well, you're the guy and you're not being the guy. But you want all the stuff that goes along with you being the guy. You want all of the praise, all of the responsibility, all of the spotlight for being the guy. You're the max player now, but you still don't sell out to do the things that great players do. It happened multiple times (Sunday) where Patrick Williams is helping from the low post, he's doubling and instead of going to check (Williams') guy, Zach LaVine is going out to the perimeter. He just let easy shot after easy shot after easy shot be made. Because he didn't want to make the effort of helping out and going to the post and helping Williams and his ability to recover on the play."
The Bulls visit the Heat on Tuesday evening. Pregame coverage starts at 6:15 p.m. CT on 670 The Score.
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